Friendship's Treasure
by wispykitty
Summary: While off at summer camp, two boys struggle to survive in the wilderness. While one flirts with death, the other learns the true value of having faith in yourself. What impact, if any, will it have on their struggling friendship?
1. Chapter 1

**Title** Friendship's Treasure  
**Characters** Lancer, Ace, Teddy, Melody, Patch, Bon Bon  
**Notes** This is set when the kids are 13. First person story told from Lancer's perspective.

* * *

I'll never know why I ever let them talk me into it. It had been a bad idea from the start! But that's always been my weakness, being afraid of my friends. Not in the sense that they'd ever do anything to me - they weren't like that. I've always been afraid that if I ever said no, that they'd stop being my friends. Maybe that's unfair of me, and I should learn to trust them more, but that's the way I grew up. People were only friends as long as you did things for them and let them call the shots.

This time, though, I learned that sometimes you just have to say no. Sometimes it's not worth it.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when I felt someone shaking me. I rolled over, thinking that maybe I was just dreaming, but then I heard a whisper in my ear.

"Come on, Lance, wake up!"

It was Teddy, shaking my arm. I stifled a groan and rolled over again, opening my eyes halfway to glare at him. "What do you want, Teddy?" I tried to whisper too, because I didn't want to wake everyone else up.

"We're going out exploring, so come on! Everyone's waiting." Teddy let go of me and just stood there beside my bed, waiting for me to get up. I was sure he'd keep bothering me if I refused, so I dragged myself out of bed and stood beside him, looking around the room in darkness. It seemed like every other bed was full, even Teddy's.

Teddy pushed me aside and grabbed my pillows, stuffing them under my blankets and that explained the lack of empty beds. I wondered who else was involved in this midnight escapade and contemplated asking him, but before I could open my mouth he shushed me and grabbed my arm again, pulling me toward the door. We stopped just at the threshold and Teddy stuck his head out, looking from left to right.

"When I tell you to go, make a run for the shed," he looked back and forth one more time. "All right, let's go!"

I watched as Teddy took a running leap off the front porch, sprinting for the metal shed in the distance. I debated for a split second about whether or not I should go – but in the end my desire to fit in won out and I jumped off the porch in imitation, though my landing was nearly a disaster. I'm really not sure how I managed to stay on my feet. Seconds later and I had joined him behind the shed, breathing heavily from a mixture of spent energy and nerves. We were the only two here.

"Now we have to get to the dock without being seen! Come on," Teddy was about to take off again when I grabbed his arm.

"Wait a second! What are we doing?" I couldn't help but question. We weren't supposed to be wandering around the camp at night, and if we were going to the docks, that only meant we were stealing a canoe. I'm not sure I was up to that.

"Oh come on, Lancer, stop being such a girl!" Teddy hurled the insult at me and took off again without answering my question. Sighing in frustration I ran after him, mostly out of curiosity. Miraculously we made it to the water without being noticed, and that was when I saw the little group hidden underneath the wooden dock. As we got closer I finally made out who we were meeting up with.

"About time," came an annoyed huff from Ace, who was the likely leader in this midnight adventure as far as I was concerned. That made me kind of nervous, because Ace and I weren't exactly the closest of friends these days.

"Sorry, Lancer took his time getting up," Teddy pointed at me and rolled his eyes, which is when I should have listened to my gut instincts and gone back to our cabin. Whenever we were alone, Teddy acted like my best friend. But whenever Ace was there, Teddy acted like I was the one following him around like a puppy dog. He always went out of his way to kiss Ace's ass, and I wasn't sure why.

"Well it doesn't matter, we need to get in those canoes and get out of here! Come on Ace, let's go make a final sweep to make sure no one is around." That was Patch, and in a second she and Ace had disappeared, leaving me to survey the others who'd been invited. Melody and Bon Bon stood together, grinning in excitement. Melody had undoubtedly been invited by Ace (I guess you could say they were dating, because they always seemed to do everything together and sometimes when they walked Ace held her hand) and I guess Teddy must have invited Bon Bon (because even though he refused to admit it, he kind of had a crush on her). Patch had probably been the first person Ace had invited, because she was the only one who ever dreamed up crazy stunts the way he did. That always made me feel kind of like a third wheel, because whenever we did something in a group, I never got to invite anyone myself. Not that the girl I liked would have come. Sweetheart wasn't really into breaking rules.

We waited another minute before Ace and Patch showed up again, this time in canoes. They had two, and I wondered how we were going to split the groups up.

"All right, Patch and Melody with me, Teddy, you can take Bon Bon and Lancer. Here's the map, we rendezvous at Cotter's Point. It should take you about fifteen minutes to get there." Ace handed Teddy a map, pointing out where our final destination was.

"We're not going together?" Teddy asked in confusion.

"Patch and I have somewhere else to go first," Ace whispered in a conspiratorial tone, which made Teddy grin and made me feel uneasy. It sucked being left out of plans.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Okay, we'll meet you there! Come on guys. I'll help you in the canoe, Bon Bon." I watched for a moment as Teddy steadied the canoe, helping Bon Bon climb in. Teddy sat in the front, Bon Bon sat in the middle, so that left me to climb in on the end after pushing off. It was harder then it looked, because I was used to getting into a canoe from above on the dock. I finally made it in though, and we slipped off away from the beach, Teddy and I dipping our paddles into the still water of the lake, navigating the canoe easily enough around the bend.

I looked back, but the other canoe was nearly out of sight, going in the opposite direction. When we were far enough away from the camp I spoke. "Where are the others going, Teddy?"

"Oh, they have to pick some things up from the convenience store," was his answer, and it made me nervous all over again.

"But the convenience store isn't open right now." I knew what he meant, but I couldn't help myself.

"Oh stop being such a downer, Lance! No wonder Ace told me not to bother inviting you," Teddy glanced back at me, shaking his head. But then he grinned and used his paddle to flip some water at me, and I knew that he was only joking about being annoyed with me.

But I knew he hadn't been joking about being told to leave me behind by Ace, and that stung.

* * *

So I guess I should explain why we're in a canoe and where we are. It's summer vacation, and we'd decided in the spring to ask our parents to send us all away to the same summer camp. Usually we split up over the summer, but we thought it would be fun to spend some time together in the woods at camp, and luckily our parents had agreed (though I'd had to ask my parents to pay to send Teddy, since his mom couldn't afford it).

My mom hadn't wanted me to go, since we usually spent our summer travelling. I don't get to see my parents much during the year, since dad travels a lot for his job and takes my mother with him. But I begged them to let me go (even though part of me wanted to stay with them, because it would be less stressful) because I didn't want to miss anything.

In reality I was afraid that if I didn't go, then by the time school rolled around, Teddy wouldn't talk to me at all. Eventually my mom had given in and let me go, though she made me promise that I'd spend the last two weeks of vacation with her and dad in Mexico. I didn't have a choice – leaving Teddy in Ace's hands for two weeks was better than two months.

So now we were here at Camp Firelight, where we did things like learn to canoe and navigate through the woods. It was pretty cool I guess, though my favourite thing to do at camp was work on paintings in the arts and crafts tent with Sweetheart. She was teaching me how to use oil paints.

Luckily I was in a cabin with Teddy and a bunch of other boys neither of us knew – so we stuck together during cabin activities and sat together in the dining hall. Ace was in some other cabin, so we never saw him that much during the day. That made me more than happy, because not only could I escape from his serious attitude problem, but it also meant that Teddy was nice to me all the time. We also usually ended up doing activities with the girls cabin that Sweetheart and Starlight were in. Starlight still had a crush on Ace, which I couldn't figure out. Sometimes it was painful to sit there and listen to her talk about him, or wonder why he liked Melody more than her. I wanted to shake her and tell her that she could do better than him, but it wouldn't do any good. After all, it's not like he was a jerk to her. He was really only a jerk to me.

And now that I've explained that I should get back to the story, because we'd just made it to Cotter's Point and Teddy and I were pulling the canoe into some bushes to hide it. Teddy explored around the site while I stood watch with Bon Bon, keeping my eyes out for any sign of the other canoe (or bears – did I mention there were bears in the woods?).

"So Lancer, how's your painting coming along?" Bon Bon asked, looking at me with a sly kind of smile.

"Um, it's going well," I stammered, feeling a little nervous. Bon Bon knew that I liked Sweetheart, and I always wondered if she ever said anything to her friend about me.

"Sweetheart told me you're not too bad with the oil paints," she said, looking out at the water.

"Oh, that's nice of her," I replied, turning suddenly when I heard a branch snap behind me. It was just Teddy.

"Geez Lance, calm down! Worried a bear might sneak up on us?" Teddy reached out and grabbed my shoulder, shaking me a little more violently than was necessary. "You worry too much."

I wrenched my shoulder out of his grip and turned away to face the water again, feeling a little annoyed. Sometimes he really got on my nerves. Then I saw the other canoe gliding through the water and pointed to it. "I think the others are coming!"

"Yeah that's them all right," Teddy said, hopping down to the water to wave them in. I stayed back with Bon Bon, not wanting to get in the way. I watched as Teddy grabbed the end of the canoe, keeping it steady while Patch hopped out to help Teddy pull it up. I heard Melody say that she didn't want to get her shoes wet, so of course Prince Charming offered to carry her out of the canoe. I couldn't help but shake my head and roll my eyes. But maybe, in reality, I was just a tiny bit jealous. If it were Sweetheart in the boat, complaining about not wanting to get wet, I'd probably trip if I tried to carry her to dry land. Being around Ace somehow always made me so aware of my shortcomings.

In a few minutes the second canoe was hidden and the group was fully formed again, waiting as Ace and Patch consulted the map and compass. They seemed to figure out where we were going, because then Ace folded up his map and told everyone to follow him. We walked in rows of two, Ace and Patch leading the way, Melody and Bon Bon following behind them, whispering about something, while Teddy fell back to walk next to me.

"Isn't this exciting?" He asked me, grinning madly. Teddy always loved adventure.

"Where are we going?" I asked, feeling a little wary about where Ace and Patch would choose to lead us.

"Does it really matter? We're out of camp when we're supposed to be in bed, wandering through the woods at night! I can't believe that doesn't excite you." Teddy looked at me and frowned, shaking his head.

"Yes it does," I protested feebly, pretending to act more excited than I was. I was a horrible actor, though.

Teddy knew it and laughed a little before slinging an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, don't make me regret inviting you," I stared at his face and could just make out him winking, before he brought a hand up to my head and ruffled my hair. He knew it annoyed me.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have bothered," I shot back, unable to help the comment. I wasn't trying to make him feel bad, but sometimes I wondered why Teddy invited me along on these little things. He knew I didn't enjoy doing crazy stuff as much as he did.

"I just thought that maybe you'd have a good time," he said, sounding a little subdued and almost apologetic. It was funny how that happened – he would do something to make me uneasy, I'd ask him why he kept pushing me, and then he'd say something and it would make me feel guilty, like I was the one always causing the problems.

"Sorry. I'm sure it'll be fun," I tried to get positive again, even though I was still a mixture of scared and annoyed.

"It will be! Now help me think of a joke to pull on Ace..."

* * *

We had to hike for twenty minutes before we got to where we were going – which happened to be a small little moonlit lake with a waterfall at one end. It was beautiful, and I wished Sweetheart was here to see it. Maybe I'd paint it for her.

"Oh Ace," I heard Melody squeal, "it's so beautiful!" I couldn't help but glance at the pair, jealousy rearing up as I watched her wrap her arms around him, staring at him expectantly, like she was waiting for him to kiss her. He didn't.

"Of course it is," he said, not even looking at her, "I told you it would be worth it." Finally he turned his head, trademark smirk on his lips, one arm sliding over her back. "But we're not only here for the waterfall."

We all waited in silence for him to go on, but he never did. He just stood there with his arm around her, looking out at the water. "Patch, quit messing around and set up our stuff," he finally broke the silence with a comment that let us all know that he'd reveal his other secret when he chose.

"Yeah yeah," Patch responded, walking over to the bank of grass and finding a spot that seemed rather level, before opening her bag and pulling out a blanket. She knelt down on it and started pulling all kind of snacks out of her bag – Coke, barbeque chips, cheesies, chocolate bars – things we weren't supposed to eat at camp. Not that there was some kind of strict nutritional plan or anything – they just didn't want anyone bringing in any outside food.

"You guys! Where did you get all of this?" Bon Bon made her way over to join Patch, dropping down to pick up a pack of chocolate chip cookies.

"We have our sources," Patch said smugly, glancing back at Ace who laughed lightly.

They'd stolen it all. I knew it! I didn't want to eat stolen goods, but I knew if I refused anything, Ace would make fun of me, and then Teddy would follow along, and I'd feel even worse than I would if I sucked it up and ate the stolen junk.

I wished I'd stayed back at camp.

* * *

Even though it was stolen, the snack did taste good. I ended up eating a few cookies, a handful of chips, a Snickers bar, and then I washed it down with a can of Coke. The sugar rush was great, but I still couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

"So, Ace, what's the big surprise?" Teddy asked, finishing off the last of the chips.

Ace looked over at Patch, who was lying on her stomach, stuffing a cookie in her mouth. "Show them, Patch."

At that comment Patch sat up, looking very much like a cat who'd just eaten a canary – but who still had another one left to snack on later. She reached into her bag again and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment, rolling it out on the blanket before us. Everyone leaned in to get a better look at it.

"It's a treasure map," she said, pointing out our location. "This is where we are, and behind those waterfalls is the entrance to a cave! Inside the cave there's supposed to be hidden treasure, left behind from ages ago when the first settlers came over."

"The first settlers didn't bring any treasure with them," I couldn't help but blurt out, "everything they brought was used to build their villages."

"The treasure didn't come from the settlers, moron," Ace butted in, glaring at me, "it came from their slaves."

"How could their slaves have treasure?" Melody asked, about as confused as I felt. She wasn't going to be called an idiot for voicing her disbelief, though.

"Simple. The slaves used gemstones and ivory for their religious rites and ceremonies," Ace explained, "but none of those things were important to the settlers. No one cared about gems during that time period, the only thing worth any money were metals. Gems were just rocks."

"But wouldn't someone have noticed how pretty and shiny they were?" Bon Bon asked, confused as well. I'm glad the girls weren't just buying it blindly.

"The gems were rough back then, they had no way of polishing them. They didn't look like typical gems you see these days in jewelry." I was surprised that Ace was so patiently explaining things.

"That makes sense," Melody said, "I mean, diamonds don't grow looking the way they do in rings and necklaces, so why would any other gems grow like that?" She and Bon Bon appeared to buy the explanation, and were starting to look excited.

"So what's the plan?" Teddy asked, his eyes looking back at the map. "How big is the cave?"

"We're not sure," Patch answered, "we've been researching the last few days but have barely been able to find anything about the caves. Hopefully they're not too big. But the plan is that we find the entrance and then explore them! The treasure isn't supposed to be hidden too well, since they figured no one would ever look behind the waterfall."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. These two lunatics wanted to go exploring an uncharted cave at night, without proper gear and without anyone knowing where we were? Were they crazy?!

"So, is everyone up for this?" Ace asked, looking around the group. When his eyes got to me his gaze turned challenging, as though he was expecting me to say no, expecting me to call him crazy and point out how dumb of an idea his exciting little adventure was. And that's exactly what I had planned to say right until my mouth opened.

"You bet we are!" I shouted, cursing myself immediately. I saw his gaze soften slightly when I made my outburst, like he was laughing at me on the inside. Like he knew that he'd managed to manipulate me into coming along.

I hated him for being able to do that to me, but I hated myself more for letting him.


	2. Chapter 2

"All right, you guys stay here, I'm going to go in first to check things out."

Ace disappeared behind the water, but not before Melody yelled after him to be careful. The rest of us stood around waiting, and I turned my gaze on the waterfall. It was about ten feet high, so it wasn't all that scary or powerful, but it was rather wide and I had to admit that it did hide the entrance to the cave perfectly. After another minute of waiting around Ace popped back out from behind the water, grinning excitedly.

"All right, it's safe enough for exploration, so come on!" Ace held out his hand for Melody to take, and in a second the pair had disappeared behind the water. Teddy went next, leading Bon Bon, which left me and Patch. I couldn't help myself.

"Hold on, Patch," I grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"What?" She looked at me with a slightly confused expression, and suddenly I felt bad for bringing it up.

"How did you and Ace get all that stuff before?" I knew I shouldn't ask, I didn't want Patch to think I was some boring lame ass either. But my conscience was getting the better of me.

Patch rolled her eyes and shook her head before answering me. "We bought it from the guy who runs the store. Ace and I go out to see him every few days. We arranged for him to prepare some stuff for our trip tonight," she paused, frowning slightly when she realized what I had thought. "We didn't steal it, Lancer. I can't believe you'd think that." She pulled her arm free and turned away, heading for the opening.

"I didn't think that!" I blurted out, not really sure what else I was going to say. "Or at least, I didn't want to think that. You guys were just so secretive, that's all. I'm sorry."

Patch turned around again, a smile on her face now. "Oh Lancer! You need to quit being so paranoid around your friends." She reached out and patted my arm, and I was sure she'd keep my question to herself. "Now come on, we have some exploration to do!"

With that said she disappeared behind the water and I was alone. I always ended up being alone.

* * *

Walking behind the water to get into the cave had been pretty awesome – I think I'd stood there for a minute, just looking out through the mist at the moonlight. I really wanted to paint this for Sweetheart, she'd love it. Once I got my fill of gorgeous scenery I made my way into the cave, which was almost too dark to see in. I really hoped Patch had a flashlight or two in that bag of hers.

I didn't want to ask, though, so instead I just waited, hoping the others hadn't gone on without me. But I could hear someone breathing not too far away, and suddenly I heard Melody giggle the way she did whenever Ace did something she thought was romantic. The last thing I wanted to think about was Ace and Melody, kissing in the darkness.

At that moment a flare of light appeared and there on the far side of the cave was Patch, shining a flashlight. She pointed it into the corner where Melody's voice had come from and we all saw her standing there with her back against the wall, Ace in front of her. She had the decency to blush a little when everyone's attention was on her – but Ace wasn't bothered at all.

"Here, Romeo, at least take your flashlight so Juliette doesn't break her ankle," Patch tossed a flashlight to Ace, who caught it one handed before moving away from the wall.

"All right, so as you can all see," he pointed the flashlight into the darkest corner of the cave, "there is the opening to the rest of the cave. We'll all go together, so keep your eyes peeled for any good hiding places for treasures," he gestured for Melody to join him, then led her into the dark mouth of the deeper cave. Patch gave Teddy a flashlight and told him to follow Ace, which left me and Patch to bring up the rear. I was hoping she'd have a fourth flashlight for me, but I didn't want to ask.

"Ready to go exploring, Lancer?" She asked, looking slightly wild in the shadowy enclosure. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I was here, so I had to go.

"I guess so," I said, trying to look more excited than I felt. I followed her in the direction that the others had taken, hoping that the only thing we'd find would be treasure – and not a family of bears.

* * *

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't scared while we were exploring - because I was. It was dark, the kind of dark that suddenly makes you realize that if the batteries in your flashlight die, you are totally screwed and you'll probably die before finding your way back out. It was the kind of dark that made you hear noises and feel someone breathing down your neck, even when there was no one behind you. I couldn't believe that I was the only one who seemed to be afraid, the others just followed the path eagerly, eyes roaming over the walls, looking for cracks and crevices.

It was just after we'd stopped for a moment and were about to start going again when I noticed something that immediately set my nerves on edge. "Uh, Patch, can you hand me the flashlight?"

"What's the problem?" she asked, coming to stand beside me and passing me the source of light. I thought I'd feel better with it in my hand, but I didn't.

"There," I said, pointing with my hand that held the flashlight. "There are footprints in the dirt."

Everyone stopped talking when they heard me speak and the next thing I knew I was being pushed aside, Ace and Patch kneeling down to examine what I'd seen. "You're right, Lancer," Ace said, turning his head to look up at me, "it seems we're not alone down here."

I hated the way his voice made me feel. I wasn't sure if he was mocking me or being sincerely wary, but from the way his lips curved up just slightly I couldn't help but feel like this was all some big joke everyone was playing on me.

"I wonder how old they are," Patch interrupted, still kneeling. "It's not like anything gets into the cave to disturb the ground. They could be fresh, or they could be old."

"Well at least we know there aren't any bears in here now," Teddy said, looking at me and winking.

"Yeah, small comfort, Teddy," I replied, before looking back at Ace. "So do we keep going? What if someone else had the same idea as you two, and already found the treasure?"

Ace stood up and shrugged, not looking too concerned. "We'll never know unless we keep looking, right? You're not losing your nerve, are you?" There it was again, the tone of voice he was using to goad me into doing something I didn't want to do. I wanted to turn around and walk back out of the cave, my gut was telling me to get out. What if there was someone else in the cave right now? What if that person was not friendly?

I swallowed my nerves and looked him in the eyes, trying not to show any fear. "Of course not," I said, "I just think we should be careful. Anyone could be here."

He laughed and shook his head, turning around and continuing down the path. "A little excitement will do you some good, Lancer. Come on guys, we have ground to cover." He walked further down the path and rounded a corner before the rest of us left to follow after him. Bon Bon joined me at my side, leaning closer to me and speaking low.

"I kind of feel a little uneasy too now that we saw those footprints. I hope we're alone."

I was torn between feeling happy that I wasn't the only one worried and feeling nervous that I wasn't the only one worried. I just couldn't help but be concerned by the set of footprints. How long ago had they been made? I guess only time would tell.

* * *

"Whoa, look at this, you guys!" Patch called out from the other side of the large cavern. I was closest and came to stand beside her, my breath catching in my throat. There were paintings there on the walls, old paintings. It looked like a cross between Egyptian hieroglyphics and Native artwork. There were a lot of animals, and a lot of nature symbols. I wondered what they meant.

"I've never seen this sort of stuff mentioned in any history textbooks," Melody said, reaching out with her fingers to trace over the paint. "I wonder what it means."

"I've seen some of these symbols before, just earlier this week when we were researching," Ace said, standing with his arms crossed, his gaze riveted to the wall. "It was in that book on the religious rites of the slaves we were looking at, Patch," he tore his eyes away from the wall to look at her, and I tried to gauge what his reaction was. "You remember much of that?"

Patch nodded, glancing back at him. "I do. That one there," she pointed to a depiction of what looked like some animal being held up to the sky, "wasn't that some sort of ritual marking or something?"

He nodded, "it was a sacrifice for sure, to the god of the sun, looks like. They usually only made reference to them in art form when it was an important sacrifice."

The rest of us were quiet, waiting for he or Patch to continue. They didn't, though, and I wondered if that was because they didn't want to say what the rest of it meant. I scanned over the rest of the art, finding it fascinating. We were looking at a true piece of history, stuff that wasn't even really documented all that well. For the first time I wondered if maybe there truly was some sort of treasure hidden in here.

"Hey, Patch," Ace spoke again, turning to flash his light on the rest of the open space, "I just had a thought. Do you think this might have been where they held the sacrifices? Their church?"

Patch turned and walked out into the centre of the room, her eyes scanning over the size of the place. "I think you might have the right idea, Ace. It is big enough, and look, over there," she pointed her flashlight at an upright chunk of rock that looked an awful lot like a stalagmite, despite its being the only one in the room, "do you think that could have been the altar where they performed the rituals?"

She walked closer to it and Ace followed, leaving the rest of us staring after them in a mixture of disbelief and distress. We were standing in an old cave church? Where they had performed animal sacrifices?

"Okay this is creepy," Melody said, walking over to Ace and Patch. "I don't exactly feel comfortable hanging around knowing they performed animal sacrifices in here."

"Yeah I agree," Bon Bon said, still look at the art. "My skin is crawling just thinking about it."

"Oh come on, guys," Patch said, "that sort of thing was normal back in the old days. There's nothing creepy about it."

"They butchered animals, Patch! That's creepy, and disgusting," Melody retreated near the entrance of the cavern, standing as far from the mound of rock Ace and Patch were examining.

"Typical girls," Teddy said, walking over to join Ace and Patch.

"Excuse me?" Patch shot back at him, narrowing her eyes.

Teddy patted her on the shoulder, "Sorry, I meant, typical girls who aren't cool." He laughed and it appeared to appease Patch, who shook her head. Teddy reached out to touch the stone, his fingers running over the top. "So, like, they'd actually kill the animals here?"

"Can we please leave?" Melody practically yelled, not the least bit interested.

"This is a historical artifact, Mel," Ace said, not appearing to be the least bit concerned over his girlfriend's bad feelings. "We just want to examine it, that's all. It could be vital in charting the history of this area."

"Yeah well, it just gives me a bad feeling." She stayed by the entrance and I walked over to stand next to her, as I happened to agree with her. The thought of animals being killed in here gave me the creeps.

"How long are you guys going to be?" I asked, hoping they wouldn't be too long in their examination.

"Why don't you take the girls back out to the path, Lancer? Since the three of you seem to be freaked out staying in here," Ace suggested, once again fixing me with an amused stare.

I probably would have let him goad me into staying, had it not been for Melody tugging on my arm. "Oh please, let's get out of here. Come on Lance." I let her pull me away from the opening, looking back to make sure Bon Bon was coming behind us.

"Hey, do you guys feel like something is not quite right down here? I just have such a bad feeling," Melody started, looking around and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Definitely," Bon Bon agreed, adopting a similar stance.

"Isn't it kind of weird, too, how Ace and Patch seem to know so much about all of this? Why isn't any of it in our history textbooks?" I couldn't help but voice something that had been nagging at me for a while. I considered myself fairly well read on local history. Why had I never seen anything about this?

"Maybe historians didn't want to write about it," Bon Bon said, "I sure wouldn't want to have to learn about it."

"But you can't pick and choose history," I replied. "Think of what would happen if all the bad things in history weren't reported and we didn't learn about them? Historians want the world to remember everything, not forget it." I would know, because I wanted to study history in university. It had always been my favourite subject.

"That's true," Melody said, "but maybe historians at the time weren't so keen on keeping records of things, and then nothing ever got passed down about the slaves."

"But then where did those two find all of their info?" I wasn't about to let this go now that I'd brought it up.

"I don't know, Lance. Maybe it's some local book written by someone who wanted to find out more, so they studied on their own." Melody shrugged and started pacing a little. "What's taking them so long?"

We all looked back towards the opening of the large cavern, wondering if we should go and inquire after the other three. Part of me was tempted to ask the girls if they just wanted to go back the way we'd come in. But then I thought of those footsteps. What would happen if we encountered someone, just the three of us? Could I protect the girls by myself, with only a flashlight? No, it wasn't safe. I needed Ace and Teddy for that. Even Patch would be a better fighter than me.

"Why don't we go back and find out how long they'll be?" I asked. "Maybe they found the jewels?"

"I guess we could," Bon Bon said, starting back down the way we'd just come. "I hope they found them, so we can leave."

I followed behind her, flashing the light on the path ahead of us. I needed to ask Ace and Patch about where they'd found all of this information, but I wasn't sure if I should ask in front of everyone. What if they did have a legit source? They'd make me look stupid. Then again, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe they didn't, and maybe this was all just some big joke they'd dreamed up. I wouldn't be surprised.

Just as we made it back to the opening of the cavern, we heard Patch yell. "Hey guys, over here! I think I found something!" I looked at Melody and Bon Bon, and together we seemed to decide to rejoin the group for the time being, lured in by Patch's shout.

"What is it?" Ace asked, coming up behind her.

"A secret tunnel," she answered, "I moved this rock and found a big hole in the wall. I think it's big enough for me to slip through."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Melody spoke up, and the pair turned to glance back at us.

"Oh, you came back?" Ace looked amused. "Just in time for some potential excitement!"

"Yeah, don't worry Mel. I'll be fine!" Patch grinned at us before turning back to the hole. "All right, I'm going in. Wish me luck!" She winked at Ace before sliding into the hole, and I couldn't help but find myself curious again. Were they planning something? Why did she wink at him?

We stood around waiting for her to report back. Teddy, who'd been over studying the art again, had come back over to join us. "What's going on?" He asked, and I filled him in. To my dismay he seemed to think the secret hole in the wall was awesome and in need of exploration. "Patch, did you find anything yet?"

There was silence for a few moments and I couldn't help but worry. What if Patch hadn't found something, but someone? There was nothing to do but wait.


	3. Chapter 3

Mere seconds after she'd disappeared Patch was back, looking unnaturally afraid. Her eyes immediately went to Ace, who looked confused. We were all silent; a little shocked to see the normally brave Patch looking spooked.

"Ace," she began, "Something is wrong."

"What do you mean?" Though her voice was noticeably inflicted with stress, his voice was still calm and composed.

"I found someone's camp," she said, her voice hushing to a whisper. She still looked scared and he looked confused and I was sure now that there was no real treasure hunt going on. This had been a big joke. Now it looked like it was backfiring on them.

"Are you sure?" He asked, his eyes straying back to the hole. She nodded, and he frowned.

"What's going on guys?" I asked, suddenly bold and in need of answers. "Seems like something went wrong with your plans."

"Did you not hear her, Lancer?" Ace turned to glare at me, "There's someone else here."

"Why are you surprised? We saw footprints back there! Unless that was a set up, and you guys were trying to trick us." I crossed my arms over my chest and wasn't about to let Ace manipulate me into believing his story.

"Wow, Lance, you really think they'd do that?" Teddy asked, looking at Ace and Patch with a curious expression. "I guess it would explain why you two know so much."

"We're not making anything up! There is a legend, and there is a camp through that hole and I know it's not old because there are embers in the fire pit! We need to get out of here before whoever it is finds us." Patch looked back at the hole, as though contemplating whether or not she should push the rock back to cover the entrance. Just then we all heard voices coming from the other direction (the one we'd come from) and my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.

"Patch, is there a path that leads away from their camp?" Ace asked her, and she nodded, and he took over the reins of leadership. "Everyone through the hole, and hurry up!" He pushed Patch back towards it and she hurried through. "Come on, move!" He whispered as loud as he dared before grabbing Melody and pushing her towards the hole. She didn't appear to want to go but he shoved her down, grabbing Bon Bon's arm next. She didn't need as much persuading. As soon as she was gone Teddy followed, which left only me and Ace. Our eyes met and I still wasn't convinced that he was telling the truth about the reality of this trip, but at that moment I couldn't afford to take a chance on busting him in a lie.

I squeezed my way through the hole and stood back to make room for Ace, who slid through and reached back for a moment. I guess he was moving the rock back into place, but I wasn't about to ask, because the voices we'd heard coming toward us had gotten louder. Patch was standing at one end of the camp and beckoning us to follow her. We did.

* * *

My heart was still racing madly as we wove our way through the winding paths and I couldn't help but feel claustrophobia setting in. How on earth were we going to find our way out? No one was stopping to think about where we were going. What if we got lost down here? What if those people caught up to us? How many of them were there anyway? I hadn't had a chance to look around the camp before we'd left.

Part of me was still convinced it was part of the joke, while another part of me was scared beyond all comprehension. What if they had guns? What if they were fugitives, hiding in a cave to escape police? What if there was no way out aside from the way we'd come in?

"Patch," I asked, "Do you have any idea where we're going in here?"

"Not really," she answered, "I'm just following their footprints," she pointed her flashlight ahead of her and I saw a line of prints in the dirt.

That kind of made me feel better, but kind of made me feel worse. What if they were waiting for us at the end? What if this was just a big loop that would take us back to where we were?

"Patch, hold on," Ace spoke up from behind us, and we all moved out of the way so he could come to the front. "I think we're okay to stop for a moment and think about this. I just followed the trail back a bit to see if anyone was coming, but there was nothing. I couldn't even hear anyone coming. I don't think we were spotted."

When had he gone back? And why hadn't he told us he was going back? How did he know the way?

"Okay, what should we do? Do we keep following this thing? What if there's no exit," she asked in a rush, still clearly spooked. That in itself was eerie.

"We don't really have a choice; we have to keep following this path. It'll come out somewhere eventually." He looked ahead, shining his light further down the tunnel. "Do you want to keep leading or should I?"

"No I'll do it, I like the idea of you being at the back better, in case someone does come up behind us. I'll be careful," she told him, and they nodded to each other before Patch held up her flashlight and started off again. I grabbed Ace's arm as he was about to pass me and locked my gaze on his eyes.

"This better not be a joke," was all I said before letting go and following Patch. I didn't look back at him.

* * *

We'd been wandering through the winding tunnel for what felt like hours, though in reality it was only ten minutes. Patch seemed to have calmed down a bit after talking to Ace, though I still thought that maybe it was all an act. I wouldn't put it past them. We came to a fork in the path, and Patch stopped, looking both ways. She waited for Ace to join her.

"Footsteps go right, what do you think?" She asked him, shining her flashlight down both paths. This decision could be the most important one they make.

"I don't know," he answered, looking around. "I've been checking my compass for the past little while. We're been travelling in a southwest direction on this path, and if we want to get back to the opening I think we'd have to go north."

"Which direction is north?" Patch asked, glancing left and right again.

"Right, of course. Whoever's in here must have followed the path back to the cavern. But just because it's the way out, it doesn't mean it's the way we should go." He looked down the path to the left, while I tried to keep my heart from hammering its way out of my chest.

"Is there another way out of the cave?" Teddy asked, standing on the path and looking down both ways.

"No idea," Ace answered, "It's not charted, remember?"

"Then we should go right," Melody spoke up. "What if there is no other exit, and we just get lost or stuck in the cave? What if those people are following us, and they follow us the other way and it's just a dead end?"

Everyone looked at her, before looking at Ace. He was still staring at his compass. "Right it is, then. We need to be quiet though, in case they are waiting. I'll lead this time. Teddy, you and Patch cover the back, make sure no one comes up behind us." He hung the compass around his neck and aimed his flashlight at the ground. "Keep your lights low, guys. Don't flash them all over the place any more. And try not to talk if you don't have to."

I looked from Ace to Melody and Bon Bon, who were both wearing masks of fear. They were scared in a way that you couldn't fake, and I felt horrible because there was nothing I could do.

I felt just as afraid.

* * *

We were walking slower this time, staying a few paces behind Ace, who was scouting quietly ahead of us. It was nerve wracking to say the least, and I couldn't help but think that maybe this wasn't a joke any more. At least not this part of it. I still think it had started out as a joke, though, and my anger toward Ace is probably what kept me from freaking out too much.

I was walking second, with the girls just behind me. I could hear Patch and Teddy's shuffling feet behind the girls, but I couldn't bring myself to look back at them. Maybe it was because I didn't want to see if they were scared; maybe it was because I didn't want them to see that I was scared.

Just then Ace was back in front of me, holding up his hand and telling us all to stop. My stomach clenched in anticipation – was there someone ahead, or were we finally back where we'd come from? I didn't recognize a thing.

"We're back at the cavern," Ace explained in low tones, "I'm going ahead to scout out the area, see if anyone is around. You guys stay here, and if you hear me yell, go back the other way. Okay?" His eyes were on Teddy and Patch, and even though I didn't want the responsibility of making that kind of decision, I still felt gypped. He didn't trust me to make choices for the group.

They nodded and suddenly Ace was off again, his flashlight turned off. We all stood together by the wall, listening intently for any sounds. I thought I could hear him walking, but maybe it was someone else? I couldn't even tell which direction it came from, because everything echoed so much. This had been such a stupid decision! Why had I let him manipulate me into following him? What was my problem?

I decided then that as soon as we were out of here that was it – no more stupid adventures. No more letting anyone walk all over me. This was it. I was done.

Just then we heard a scuffle from ahead, and I held my breath, my heart hammering so loud I was sure everyone could hear it. He told us to wait for him to yell, but what if someone had hit him from behind and knocked him out? What if they were closing in on us right now, as we stood here waiting?

Just as I was about to suggest that someone go ahead to check we heard Ace yell loud and clear.

"Let go of me!"

I looked at Teddy, whose mouth was wide open in shock. What should we do? He told us to run, but how could we leave him?

"Guys, come on!" Patch whispered, grabbing Melody's arm and tugging her. "We have to move!"

"We can't just leave him Patch!" Teddy said, though he made no move toward the cavern.

"We can't stay here! We need to get somewhere safer and regroup! Come on!" She started running down the path and Melody and Bon Bon were following her, and as I looked at Teddy I made my decision. Even though I hated the thought of leaving Ace to whatever was happening to him, I couldn't let the girls run off by themselves.

A second later and I heard Teddy following behind me, but as I looked back my chest felt like it was going to explode because I saw the shadow of a man coming around the bend where the cavern entrance was. We had nowhere to hide, and we were going to be spotted.

"Hey! Who the fuck are you? Come back here!"

The voice shouted at us and I didn't look back as I sprinted forward toward the group, so scared I nearly lost my grip on reality. But just as we were about to enter the path to the left Patch let out an ear shattering scream.

They'd found us. We'd run right into their trap, and there was no one around to help us.


	4. Chapter 4

Patch struggled in the grip of an older man who had shaggy white hair and looked wild. His eyes darted around the group, looking all of us over. He was waiting for the other man, who had a knife to Ace's throat, to join us. The remaining four of us were huddled together, our two leaders captured. What could we do? What were the men going to do to us? Maybe if I offered them money they'd let us go? I don't know if they'd ever heard of my father, but it was worth a try.

Before I was able to speak Melody shouted. "Let him go!" I could see tears running down her cheeks as she watched Ace being led at knife point to us, and I had to admit that as much as he and I didn't get along these days, seeing him like that had me near hysterics too.

"Ain't that sweet? Your little girlfriend there is all worried about you!" The younger man finally made it to where we were all standing, one hand gripping a fist full of Ace's hair, the other hand still holding the knife to his throat. "Don't worry sweetheart, I won't hurt him too much, though he is kinda pretty."

Everyone was silent at that comment, and the scene took on a whole different feel. Exactly why were these guys hiding in a cave? And who were they hiding from? Were they escaped convicts? What were they going to do to us?

I looked at Teddy, whose eyes were wide and I could tell he was struggling with the situation. He wanted to fight them; he wanted to protect his friends. But I could tell he was scared. Both men were rather large, and the one holding Ace had bulging muscles in his arms. How could we possibly fight them?

I looked back at Ace then, but was shocked when I looked at his face. His lips were pressed tightly together, almost as though he was trying not to laugh. I looked over at Patch and was shocked and horrified to find her with the same expression.

Suddenly the man holding Ace let him go, shoving him away. "Oh go on then, you just ruined it all! I thought you two said you were going to keep it serious for a bit until you really scared 'em all!"

"We were," Ace replied, "Until you went and called me pretty. I couldn't help it," he laughed then, his hand massaging his throat where the blade had been pressed.

The four of us in the middle stood with mouths gaping open in shock, disbelief written across our faces. Had this really all been a part of the joke?

"What the fuck, guys? You tricked us?" Teddy asked, looking from Ace to Patch and scratching his head.

Ace nodded, now looking smug. "You should have seen your faces! It was hilarious!"

"Yeah, it was great! I'm impressed we kept it up as long as we did," Patch had a smug smirk on her lips now, and I still couldn't believe they'd done this.

"Wow guys," Teddy said, "I can't believe that was all part of the plan! Talk about elaborate pranks," he grinned at Ace and I felt so angry at him for that. Couldn't he see what they had done to us? How could he forgive those moments of pure fear?

Before I had a chance to say anything though, Melody lunged at Ace, open palm flying out to slap him across the face (and I couldn't help but feel good at how loud the slap was; it was going to sting). "How dare you?!" she yelled at him, "I can't believe you thought this was funny!"

Ace had the decency to look confused and at a loss for a moment, but he recovered quickly, brushing her concerns off. "Oh come on, Mel, it wasn't that bad! We were never in any danger."

"You don't know that! What if there really had been someone in here, hiding out?"

"Oh there's no chance of that, missy," the older man spoke up, "these caves been sealed up for years! Used to be used for minin', all closed down now though. Don't be mad at your boyfriend, he was just havin' a bit of fun."

Melody whirled on the spot to look at him, and I was kind of shocked to see how angry she looked. It was a good reminder to never get on her bad side. "Who the fuck are you anyway? What kind of people are you, to agree to this?! Are you all insane?!" Before waiting for an answer she turned again and stormed off in the direction of the cavern.

"Mel, hold on," Ace yelled in her direction, though he made no move to catch up with her. "At least wait for someone with a flashlight," he grinned after making the comment, and I was kind of surprised, kind of not surprised, to see that he apparently didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse for upsetting her.

"You're such a jerk, Ace," I couldn't have held the words in if I'd wanted to, and it kind of felt liberating to finally say them after all this time. I wasn't expecting them to have any effect on him though. Ace was a master at not letting anyone get to him.

"What's wrong Lance," he asked in a mocking tone that set my nerves on edge, "You didn't piss yourself did you? I saw your face, you were pretty damn scared."

I couldn't believe him. "Don't you even care that Mel's angry at you?" I sort of disappointed myself with that reply, but even though I wanted to, I just couldn't bring myself to really unleash my feelings on him. Not yet, anyway. I probably would one day.

He just laughed, not bothered by the question. "She won't stay mad, trust me. I'm too charming when I need to be," he said, winking at me before turning back to the men. "Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate your help."

I stood there in silence, listening to him talk to the men. Turned out that the old guy was the man who owned the convenience store where they'd got their food from earlier, and the younger man was his son. Not that it really mattered as far as I was concerned. I still couldn't believe that Ace would pull something like this on all of us. And it also pissed me off that Teddy seemed to think it was so cool how they'd done it all, like Ace was suddenly a hero in his eyes. It made me sick.

"Lancer?" Suddenly Bon Bon was at my side, flashlight in hand. "I'm going ahead to find Melody, you wanna come?" I could see in her eyes that she was upset about the whole thing too, but she wasn't as impetuous with her feelings like Melody. She held it in more.

"Yeah let's go," I said quietly, hoping the others wouldn't follow us right away. I so did not want to see Ace's smirking face any more tonight. We found Melody waiting around the bend, standing against the wall. I thought it looked like she was crying.

"Hey Mel," Bon Bon went to her friend, "I got Teddy's flashlight, let's get out of here." The girls walked arm in and arm and I followed behind, torn over my feelings. Part of me wanted to go back and yell at Ace again after seeing how upset Melody was. But my desire to get out of this stupid cave and stay with the girls won out.

"I just can't believe he'd do this," Melody started, "I was so scared when I saw that guy holding the knife! I thought he was going to kill him," there were definitely tears in her voice, and it made me feel horrible even though none of this was my fault.

"Yeah, it was pretty outstanding, even for Ace and Patch." Bon Bon didn't sound as upset, but I knew she was just trying to keep herself together for Melody's sake.

"I don't know why he does it, B," Melody wound an arm around her friend's waist and leaned over, her head tilting towards the other girl's, "He really pisses me off sometimes. And the worst part is that he never apologizes! It's like no matter how much anyone is bothered by what he does, he's always right."

I could barely keep from butting into the conversation then and there. I wanted to scream at her _Why would you stay with a guy like that? You could do better!_ but I managed to keep my mouth shut. I wasn't really sure how she would react to that. In my experience, when a girl complained about her boyfriend being a jerk, and another guy told her she should find a guy who wasn't a jerk, the tables were quickly turned on the nice guy, because he just didn't understand the jerk boyfriend.

Sometimes it just wasn't worth it to butt in. Maybe, if I was lucky, Bon Bon would talk some sense into her and get her to see that Ace wasn't worthy of anyone's affection, except his own. Moments later there was light ahead and we could hear the sound of the rushing water from the waterfall. We were free.

As I followed the girls out I was relieved once again that Sweetheart hadn't been invited. She probably would have had a heart attack going through that, and then I probably would have gotten in a fight with Ace. He would have won, of course, because he always wins. It was just another thing I hated about him.

We stood outside for a few minutes, waiting for the other three because none of us knew where the canoes were to get back to camp. If only I could remember which way we'd come, I'd have suggested that we go back now and leave the others here.

But then we heard loud laughter and suddenly they were coming out, and it was kind of like the laughter set Melody off all angry again (because she'd gotten sad and upset walking back out with Bon Bon and me). She turned to face the group and set her eyes on Ace, her gaze venomous.

Before she had a chance to speak Ace walked over to her, all cocky and arrogant and not the least bit remorseful. "Mel, don't be mad at me," he said with a laugh, reaching out his hands to touch her arms (probably making sure she wouldn't slap him again, though he totally deserved it, I thought).

"Oh I'm not mad at you," she said, though she clearly was, "I don't think mad covers what I'm feeling right now."

It was kind of awkward, all of us standing there seeing them in the middle of what was shaping up to be an epic argument. But I knew Ace better than that – he was a master at manipulating people to give him the reactions he wanted, and even though I wished Melody would scream at him and slap him again, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that by the time we got back to the canoes, things would be happy and cheery again.

"Melly," he said, just enough softness in his tone of voice to diffuse her rage, "don't be like that. You know you'll be laughing about this in a few days," he was in close to her now and lifted one hand up to her cheek.

"Yeah, I'll be laughing at you when you're single," she said, though I could already hear that the majority of the fight had gone out of her voice. How the hell did he do it?!

"You're not breaking up with me over this, don't be ridiculous," he said, before leaning his head down to kiss her. I shook my head in disgust, angry at Ace. He didn't deserve that kiss after what he'd done! I was kind of angry at Melody too right now. How could she let her anger go so quickly with only a few words?

"He should teach classes on that," Teddy said from beside me. I'd been so focused on the couple that I hadn't noticed him walk over to me. "If I tried that with Bon Bon, my front teeth would be on the ground right now." Teddy grinned and I felt disappointed in him. Why did everyone always give in to Ace? How did he do it?

"Whatever, he's a jerk," was all I said in response. I knew he'd probably tease me about being upset, but I didn't care any more. I was too angry at Ace and disappointed in everyone else for not being just as angry as me. "I just want to get back to the cabin and go to bed."

"Oh Lance," Teddy said, his tone one of amusement, "You don't have to be so serious all the time."

I didn't bother answering Teddy. He just didn't get it.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been almost a week since our little adventure and I hadn't spoken to Ace once. It actually felt pretty good, I had to admit. Teddy and I were back to hanging out with the girls, and everything was cool. I was feeling pretty happy again, and while I still thought Ace was a jerk, I wasn't angry at the sight of him any more. Now I just ignored him, like he didn't exist. Teddy had learned after the first day not to mention his name.

It was Saturday morning and all of us boys were crowded around the office building, waiting for the camp director to come out and talk to us. This was the weekend of our navigations exercise. We would be paired in groups of two and be given a map, compass, and an area we had to get to and spend the night at. I was looking forward to it, figuring it would give Teddy and me a good chance to test how much we'd learned. Plus it would be cool to escape the camp for a night and be on our own.

But to my utter horror, we were told that we weren't picking our own partners. I immediately got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I hoped - I desperately hoped that fate wasn't cursing me.

It turned out that she was. I was partnered up with Ace.

* * *

We'd set off fifteen minutes ago (all the groups had different routes, and we all left at timed intervals) and I already wanted to kill him. As soon as we'd been paired, I could see him immediately get the same pissed off expression on his face. But his didn't last long. He grinned at the camp director as he took our map and compass, exclaiming how excited he was for the exercise. It made me ill. I wanted to protest, to ask if we could change partners. But I knew I couldn't explain to the staff why – it would mean admitting everything we'd done a week ago, and we'd all get in trouble. And if I couldn't offer up a good explanation (because if I said that I didn't like Ace, they'd only see this as an opportunity for us to bond and become better friends) then what could I say?

So in the end I'd said nothing and simply followed along as he took off. As soon as we were out of earshot of the camp he'd turned to me and said that he was going to carry the map and compass, because I'd probably just lose them. It made me so angry, but he'd just smirked and turned around, taking off again.

Sometimes it was a bit of a struggle, keeping up with him. It almost felt like he was taking the hardest route possible just to test my ability to keep up. Eventually we stopped when we got to the top of the mountain we'd been steadily climbing up. I was kind of surprised I had managed to keep up with him, but now that we'd come to a stop I was grateful for it.

He sat down on the grass and took off his bag, going through it in search of something. Probably food, which I thought was a great idea. I sat down too (though not too close to him, because even though we were stuck together for the weekend, it didn't mean we were going to be friendly) and went through my pack, looking for a sandwich. We ate in silence, neither one of us wanting to talk to the other. When I had finished my meal I looked over at Ace, seeing him lying back on the grass with his eyes closed.

Part of me wanted to ask if we could get going again, because it was sort of getting awkward sitting here and not talking. But the other part of me thought that a nap sounded like a perfect idea. We were out of the shade of the trees and in the sun, and it felt so relaxing. A bit of a rest would be a good idea before we got going again.

But just as I had lain back on the grass, as though he'd been waiting for me to get comfortable, he stood up and said we should get moving again. I remained where I was for a second, feeling a little angry. I wanted to protest and say that no, we should stay for a little while longer. But he did have the map and compass, and I knew that if it came down to it, he would just head off on his own and leave me here. So I got up and shouldered my pack again before following him.

It occurred to me that I actually had no idea where we were even going. I knew Ace did have a high level of navigational skill though, so I knew he'd get us where we had to go. But it still irked me to follow along. This weekend was supposed to be testing the skills we'd learned, and how was I going to test mine if I just followed him?

We followed the ravine gorge for a while, walking above one of the park's rivers. At least it was gorgeous out here today; the way the sun glittered off the rocks in the river was kind of breathtaking. Maybe I would be able to keep calm more easily if I stopped thinking about Ace so much and instead focused on everything around me. I wish I had a camera! Or my painting set. If I was with Teddy, I knew I could convince him to stop so I could paint this scene (he'd probably sleep). But I wasn't with Teddy, and I didn't have my paints anyway. It would just have to be another memory I would try to recreate one day.

* * *

I looked at my watch – 1:37 in the afternoon. We'd been hiking for just over five and a half hours, and I wondered how much further we had to go before reaching our camp. Not that I was complaining, really. At least the hike kept us busy. What would Ace and I do when we had to stop and set up camp for the night? That was an awkward mess I wasn't looking forward to.

It was around two o'clock when we stopped again, but this time Ace spoke to me, saying that in his estimation we should be at our camp site in another two hours. I was both happy and nervous to hear that. We sat down again, this time on the edge of the ravine overlooking the river below. I could imagine that if Teddy were here, he'd probably try to convince me to jump in the river with him. It wasn't really that high, after all, maybe a fifteen foot drop. It had been higher before, but we were coming down into a bit of a gully.

"Hey Ace," I said suddenly, "Can I see the map? I just want to see where we're going."

To my surprise he handed it over without saying anything. I'd at least expected him to tell me not to drop it. I looked it over and saw our destination marked by a little red X. It was apparently along a stream that came off of this river, which would make it easy enough to find.

I felt rather thirsty then, so I set the map down beside me and pulled off my pack, digging around for my water bottle. I pulled it out and flipped off the cap, taking a long, slow sip. As I was midway through it, suddenly a gust of wind came up and right before my eyes (my suddenly terrified eyes) the map was picked up by the wind and went sailing over the side of the cliff.

"Shit!" I yelled, which drew Ace's attention away from looking up into the sky at the clouds.

He saw what I was looking at and let out an annoyed huff of breath. "Nice going, dumb ass!"

"I'm sorry; there was no wind at all until just now!" I felt like an idiot, and I knew he was going to ride me over this for the rest of the day. I looked down and saw the map sitting on a ledge just above the water. If only I was more skilled at rock climbing, I'd climb down right here and get it.

"See? This is exactly why I didn't want you to carry the map. You always screw everything up, Lancer." He took off his pack and threw it on the ground and before I knew what was happening, he disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Apparently Ace was confident enough in his rock climbing skills to climb down and get the map.

"Be careful!" I shouted half-heartedly, feeling useless again. Great, he'd let me have the map for one minute and I'd done exactly what he'd said I'd do – lose it. I didn't think things could get any worse, but they did.

I watched as Ace grabbed on to a root sticking out from the cliff face, using it as leverage as he leaned down to pick up the map. Just as his fingers closed on it though, suddenly the root gave way and I watched him fall backwards off the cliff toward the water.

"Ace!" I yelled, watching in shock as he hit the river. If he'd just fallen into the water that wouldn't have been such a problem, because the map was laminated so it was waterproof and he was a strong swimmer, but just like in every movie that had a scene of someone falling off a cliff, there happened to be a big branch sticking out from the other side, and I heard more than saw him crack the back of his head on it.

"Ace?" I stood in stunned silence for a moment, watching to see if maybe what I'd heard was something else entirely. But in the few seconds I'd stood stock still, his unresponsive body started drifting down the river. "Fuck!" I yelled again, totally on the verge of freaking out. What could I do?! I could jump into the river after him, but I didn't know how deep it was, and me breaking my legs would not help this situation at all. So I took a deep breath while shouldering my bag and started climbing down the side of the cliff, grateful that it wasn't as tall as it had been an hour ago. When I was close enough to the water I let go, splashing into the river. Ace was quite a distance down-stream from me, but I was a pretty strong swimmer (I had plans of getting my lifeguarding license in a few years) and at least he was floating face up, and not face down.

I dove into the water and started swimming as fast as I could, hampered a bit by the bag on my back, and luckily in the space of a minute I managed to catch up to him. But now the only problem was that there wasn't really any way for me to get him out of the water, because there was a bit of a cliff on both sides now. I held on to him though and let the current carry us downstream, hoping that maybe there would be a sandy bend somewhere that I could pull him out.

It felt like we drifted for a good ten minutes before I finally saw an opening. The river bended around to the right rather sharply, and as I'd hoped, the right side of the river bank was level with the water, and there was a bit of a sandy beach area. I somehow managed to grab Ace under the arms and drag him out (at least I remembered that from our first aid training) and I felt completely drained by the time I managed to get him to dry ground. I laid him down as gently as I could before nearly collapsing on my stomach, breathing heavily.

I knew I couldn't just stay like that, though. I had to check Ace, to make sure he wasn't in serious trouble. I tried to remember what we'd been told to do; there was some line we were supposed to remember or something. I think it was "Look, Listen, Feel" or something like that. So I crawled over to him and felt a little better when I saw that he was breathing. How he'd not managed to swallow a lungful of water was beyond me, but I'd be grateful for whatever I could get. He looked okay, his skin wasn't all gray or white or anything. He was still unconscious, though, so I carefully checked the back of his head, relieved to see he at least wasn't bleeding from anywhere.

So then I checked for a pulse, and it seemed normal enough. His breathing sounded okay, he wasn't gasping for breath or anything. So it was probably just a concussion. Lovely. I tried to remember what you were supposed to do when this happened – elevate the legs? Or was that just for shock? What if he was in shock? Could you be unconscious but in shock? I tried my hardest to remember, but everything just floated around in my head and I couldn't make any sense of it.

I just wished he would wake up! I was sure he would know what to do, because he always seemed to know everything. But then I suddenly had another concern shoot through me – where were we? And how was I going to get help? I didn't know if Ace was going to be okay enough to walk whenever he woke up, but I couldn't just leave him here.

I pulled off my pack just then, remembering that we'd been told that if anything happened and we needed help that we each had a flare and that if we shot it off, someone would come and find us. But then I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, because before I'd lost the map I'd had my bag open after taking my water out. And now everything I'd had in my bag was gone, including the flare.

I threw the bag away from me, frustration welling up uncontrollably. What could I do?! Ace was in serious trouble and it was all my fault, and I couldn't even find anyone to help us! I felt the beginning of tears welling up in my eyes and I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't help it. I'd never felt so helpless in my life. But just then I heard a shifting sound beside me and I looked over to see Ace moving his head.

"Hey, are you waking up?" I immediately went over to him, forcing myself to stop crying. I couldn't let him see me like that. "You shouldn't move your head around too much."

"Lance?" Ace's voice sounded kind of muffled, like he was saying my name with a mouth full of cotton. I don't think that was a good sign.

"Yeah, I'm here. How do you feel?" I was relieved that he'd woken up finally, but also scared, because what if I found out that his head injury was really serious?

It took him a moment to answer me, and he kind of looked confused. "Um, wet. Why'm I wet?"

He was definitely mumbling when he spoke, and that had me worried. Ace never mumbled. Not to mention the fact that he couldn't remember what had happened! "Well, you fell into the water and hit your head. Do you remember that?"

He paused again, his eyes appearing unfocused. I was getting more worried by the second. He was obviously in a pretty bad state, and I couldn't really do anything for him. So I just sat and waited for him to answer me.

"Ace? Do you remember what happened?"

He closed his eyes again and gave me a mumbled "No" as a response. Was I supposed to let him sleep? Or did I need to keep him awake? I couldn't remember! I looked back at the river, thinking. He'd left his pack up on the ridge before jumping in. Maybe I should go back to where we were and get it? I could use that flare, at least. And I'd have his sleeping bag to put over him, since mine was all wet. I'm sure he was fine now, lying in the sun, but if it got dark and no one found us, I'm sure he'd be awfully cold.

I just didn't know if I wanted to leave him. What if he woke up and I was gone? What if he panicked and tried to move and hurt himself even more? If only he could wake up and stay awake, and if only I was sure that he'd remember things that I tell him, then I could leave him. But I just felt like leaving him alone right as he was would be a mistake.

So instead I got up and took out my wet sleeping bag, opening it up and laying it on the grass and hoping it would dry in the sun. I just couldn't risk taking off and leaving him here by himself. I would have to wait him out until he woke up again.


	6. Chapter 6

It was nearly an hour before he woke up again, and I was grateful when it happened. Every minute that went by in my head, I kept debating my decision to go back for his pack. Not only would it mean a dry sleeping bag to cover him with if he got cold, but I also didn't have any food or water. Plus, there was that flare.

"Hey Ace," I knelt down next to his head, touching my hand to his forehead. He felt warm, which seemed normal since we were out in the sun. "How are you feeling?"

His eyes looked more focused this time when he looked at me, and I hoped that meant he was feeling better. He still didn't answer me right away, which I found a little unnerving. "What happened?" His voice sounded clear this time (not perfect, but not muffled or mumbled at least) and he tried to sit up.

I put my hand on his chest and told him to stay down. "You fell off the cliff and hit your head. You've been out for over an hour." I watched his face as he processed the news, grateful that he didn't look confused this time.

"How did I fall off the cliff?" He looked back at me and I remembered then that memory loss was pretty common with concussions.

"Well, the map blew off and you climbed down to get it, but the root you were holding on to broke off," I stopped there to judge what his reaction would be, to see if the explanation would jog his memory at all.

"Map? What map?"

Now I was getting concerned. How much did he not remember? "Ace, what do you remember?"

He laid his head back and looked up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought. I gave him a moment to think it over. "We're at camp," he said, pausing again. "Are we on our navigation exercise?"

I nodded, happy that he remembered something. "Yeah, we were about two hours away from our camp when we stopped to rest for a bit."

"Oh," he replied, and I couldn't judge the look on his face. "Can I have some water?"

My face fell at his request. How could I tell him that I'd lost everything? "I don't have my water, it got lost in the river. And your stuff is back up the river, about twenty or thirty minutes away," I guessed, since it would take longer to get back then it had to come down, given the water's currents helping us along.

He frowned but seemed to accept my answer. "Can you help me sit up?"

I looked down at him, unsure if I should move him. Weren't you supposed to leave them as they were? Or could you move them if there was no neck injury? "I'm not sure if you should, Ace. Can you move your legs?" I thought I'd better give him some kind of test to see if he was further injured, since all I'd checked had been his head.

As I looked down he moved his legs slightly, bending them slowly up. I figured that was good enough proof that his neck wasn't injured, so I sat behind him and put my arms under his and helped to pull him up into a sitting position. "Are you okay, or do you feel dizzy?" is what I asked as soon as he was upright.

"I'm okay," he said, though he did close his eyes. "Can you help me get out of the sun, I have a headache."

That was bad. Weren't headaches common too with concussions? Should I move him any more?

"I know what you're thinking, Lancer, but I feel good enough to move. Just over there near the trees, so I can lean back against one." I had the distinct feeling that if I didn't help him, he'd try to crawl over there himself.

"Can you stand up?" I asked, getting to my feet and offering my hands down to him. He nodded and grabbed my hands (at least his grip seemed to be strong as usual) and I pulled him to his feet. He was a little unsteady on them (to be expected) but with my help he managed to make it over to the tree line easily enough. I helped him sit back down.

"Thanks, that's better," was what he said in response, and I couldn't help but smile just a tiny bit. I can't recall the last time he'd ever thanked me for anything. Post-concussion Ace seemed to have a better grasp on his manners than usual.

"Will you be okay if I leave you for a bit? I want to go back to grab your pack. I need that flare gun so we can get you some help." He seemed to be completely coherent this time, so I wasn't too concerned with leaving him. He nodded and promised that he would be exactly where I was leaving him, which made me grin slightly. Though he still had some problems, the fact that he could understand what was going on and move around made me feel loads better about the situation. I'd have that flare in no time, and soon someone would be along to help.

My sleeping bag had dried enough in the sun so I brought it over to him and told him to use it as a blanket if he got cold. I told him that I should be back within an hour, with food and water. He smiled at me and thanked me again before I took off, figuring that it would be faster if I just ran along the riverbank on our side instead of trying to climb the much higher cliff wall of the other side. I'd know I was in the right spot when the two sides were of equal height.

I spotted his pack and suddenly it felt like the bottom had dropped out of my stomach – there was a racoon going through the contents! "Hey! Get out of there!" I shouted at it, which made it freeze, paws in midair. I looked around my feet for something to throw at it, a stone or something. In the time it took me to find one and I looked back up I saw the animal scurrying away, something clamped firmly in its mouth. I had a sinking feeling about this.

I watched it run off and saw where it disappeared into the trees, hoping that all it had taken was a sandwich. I dropped the stone I had picked up and looked down at my feet at the cliff face I had to scale down. This was so much scarier to do when someone's life wasn't directly at risk.

I got down on my knees and stretched down with one foot, trying to find somewhere to rest it. This side of the cliff wasn't as easy to climb down as the other had been. But I knew from earlier that the river wasn't deep enough here for me to simply jump into, so I had no choice but to try to find places to stick my feet.

Once I got a secure enough foot-hold I lowered myself onto the face of the cliff and immediately a wave of fear swept over me. It felt so much steeper than the other side had! I'd be lucky if I didn't fall and hit my head on the same branch! I struggled to calm myself, thinking that I had to get down and across the river to that pack. Ace's life may very well be depending on it. He seemed okay for now, but how long would that last?

Putting everything into perspective seemed to calm my nerves enough for me to reach out with my left foot, trying to find somewhere to place it. The second foot-hold was easier, but then it came time for me to find something to grab onto with my hands, and I couldn't find a thing good enough. Eventually my fingers found a tiny crack and I tried to stuff as much of my index finger into it as possible, hoping and praying I wouldn't slip as I reached out blindly with my right foot, trying to find another spot to put my weight on to. Shockingly I found one easily, but the moment I put pressure on it the rock gave way and I'm not sure how but I somehow managed to keep my hold to the wall and not fall along with it.

I stayed there, like that, for a few minutes, too scared to move. I'd come so close to falling. I had to be more careful. I reached out again with my foot, eventually finding another little niche to wedge my toe into. It wasn't comfortable, but it was the best I could find. The next one after that was easier, and then the next, and suddenly I was close enough to let go and jump into the water. When I did that though, my foot slipped on a rock and I flung my arms out, just barely catching on to the log Ace had fallen into. I stayed there holding it until I could catch my breath, then trudged across the water to get to the other side.

The map was gone, of course, flying away when Ace's fingers had grabbed it for a mere second. Not that it mattered much. As long as that flare was still there, we would be okay. I studied the cliff from below and found an easy looking path up. This side of the cliff was easier to climb, with more places to put your feet and fingers. It took me half the time to climb up that it had taken me to climb down the other side. I eyed the open pack as I pulled myself up, seeing a few scattered contents around it. The water was there, as were two sandwiches and two apples. It looked like there was an orange half hidden by the flap of the bag. At least we had some food and water.

I hurried over to the bag, sinking to my knees and pulling it open fully. I started pulling everything else out (there wasn't much else, just a sweater, a book, and a bag of granola mix). Which meant that damn raccoon had made off with the flare!

Of all the things for it to take! I couldn't understand why – it's not as though it had a pleasant smell to it that the raccoon could eat! Maybe it had been attracted to the shiny casing? I wasn't sure, but all that mattered was that it was gone, and now I had no way to contact anyone. I felt like crying again in frustration, not that it would really do any good.

So instead I packed everything into the bag and made my way towards the woods. Maybe the raccoon had dropped the flare and I could find it. I must have searched the area (at least I thought and hoped it was the right area) for fifteen minutes before giving up. I did not want to go back to Ace without a means of contacting anyone. It just wasn't fair!

But I didn't have a choice. At least I could get him some food and water.

* * *

When I'd made it back to where I'd left him, I saw that he had his eyes closed again, though I wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not. I came up to where I'd left him and dropped down to my knees, reaching out to touch his forehead again. Still warm, so that was good. I'd been worried he might get the chills or something, but he seemed okay.

He was also awake, because he opened his eyes when he felt my hand. "Made it back in one piece?" He asked with a smile, and I nodded.

"Barely. Almost fell and hit my head on the same branch you did. Anyway, I have good news and bad news," I told him, deciding to tell the truth about the flare. On my way back I'd contemplated what to say to him about it, but decided the truth was the best option. I just hoped he wouldn't be mad. "I have water and food," I said as I opened the bag and took out the bottle of water for him, "but, well you're probably not going to believe this, but a raccoon took off with the flare."

He almost choked on the water, and seeing him laugh made me feel better. I was worried he'd blame it on me and get angry. "A raccoon? Are you serious?"

I nodded and couldn't help but grin as well. "Totally. I can't understand why! You'd think he'd have gone for the food."

"Raccoons are fairly stupid when it comes down to it," he replied, putting the cap back on the water. "So we have no way of letting anyone know where we are? Guess we'll have to walk back, then."

I immediately shook my head. "No way! I thought about this, and here's what's going to happen. You're going to stay here, with the food and sleeping bags, and I'll go back to get help."

He sneered at my comment and suddenly it seemed like the old Ace was back. "If I let you go back by yourself, I'll die of starvation before you ever make it back to camp. You know your sense of direction sucks; you'll never find the camp, especially not without the map."

While it was true that my sense of direction was kind of crappy, I was still bothered that he thought I was that useless. "I'll just follow our tracks back, it can't be that hard."

"Not a chance, we're going together. If I remember correctly, this river should flow down to the lake the camp is on. We can follow it down that way." His tone of voice was serious and commanding, but I didn't want to give in.

"Can you even walk, though? You seemed pretty shaky on your feet." I was grasping at straws here, because I had this sinking feeling that he was going to end up winning this discussion. Somehow he was manipulating me into doing what he wanted, and I couldn't even figure out how. Why was it so hard to put my foot down and say no to him?

"I feel a lot better now," he said, "I just needed time for my body to adjust to being awake again. So help me up and let's go. The sooner we're at camp, the better."

I swallowed my retort and with a frustrated expression I stood up, holding my hands out to him again. He did seem a little more stable on his feet this time, though, so maybe he would be okay. "Are you sure you'd don't want to eat something first? Might give you more strength," I offered.

"No, I'm not hungry," he replied, taking a few steps forward on his own. He stopped suddenly though, and I was at his side in an instant.

"What's wrong?" I noticed he had his eyes closed again, and I thought that maybe being out in the sun again was making his headache worse.

"My right leg hurts a little," he said, though the complaint had me confused, "I need your help walking. It's not that bad, though, but we'll just be able to move faster this way."

"Why would your leg hurt, though? You didn't hit your leg on anything," I asked, wondering if he was lying. Maybe he was feeling dizzy, or his headache was really bad? It would be like him to cover up his real problem and use something less serious as an excuse.

"I don't know why, it just does, so shut up and come here!"

I hesitated for a second, feeling in my gut that I should force him to sit back down and go for help on my own. But he'd planted a seed of doubt in my stomach about my abilities to navigate without a map (and the compass around his neck would be useless to me, because I had no idea which direction the camp was in without the map) so I gave in to him again.

I didn't bother saying anything a few minutes later though when he stopped limping. I knew the leg had been a cover story for something else, but what exactly? I knew better than to push my luck. We continued on for a while, and after almost an hour had passed I couldn't help but notice that his breathing seemed to be a bit heavy.

"I think we should rest for a bit, you sound winded and I'm hungry," I suggested, and even if he said no I was intent this time on making him sit. I was also of half a mind to wait until he fell asleep and then follow the river to the lake myself, but then I realized that I had no idea how far the lake was. What if he woke up and took off on his own again and got disoriented? What if I got a search party to go looking for him, but he wouldn't be where I'd left him?

Luckily he agreed to the rest, so I didn't have to worry about an argument for the time being. I helped him over to a tree so he could sit against it, and I sat down next to him. I opened the bag and offered him the water, which he drank, but again he refused to eat anything. I couldn't help but feel like that was a bad sign.

So I took out half of a sandwich and ate it myself, and when I finished that off I had a bit of the granola. I was starving, but I didn't want to eat everything, now that our chance of rescue was severely diminished. I took a sip of water before putting everything back in the bag and then looking at Ace.

I noticed with alarm that his skin looked kind of pale, and I reached out without warning and put my hand to his forehead again. He felt clammy. I knew I'd been right in suggesting that he not try walking! "Ace, how do you feel?"

He knew that I knew something was up. "I'm okay, just a little tired. I guess walking took more out of me than I thought." His voice still sounded strong, at least.

"I think we should rest longer before starting off again," I said, deciding not to bring up my going alone again just yet. I'd wait and see if he got better or worse with a little rest.

"Okay," was all he said in reply before closing his eyes.

* * *

I wasn't sure if he'd fallen asleep or not, because all I'd done was sit there and think. What was our best option? I knew he'd want to continue on with me, but I really didn't think it was a good idea. Not given his current condition. But how could I get him to agree with me? Ace was the type of guy who would keep going through an injury without complaining until he collapsed, and if I let him do that he'd probably kill himself.

Maybe if I spoke to him logically, and explained that even though he wanted to go on, he couldn't, maybe I'd make him see sense. Even though he was bull-headed at times, he was a pretty logical kind of guy, so maybe if he'd actually listen to me, he'd agree. I hoped so.

It was nearing six o'clock when I decided to check on him again, so I touched his arm lightly. "Ace? You ready to get going again?"

He turned his head to look at me, his eyes open and alert. I guess he hadn't been sleeping after all. "Sure, I feel better."

I studied his face and noticed that he was still kind of pale, though not as bad as before. I touched his forehead, and his skin was kind of warm again, though still a little clammy. I wasn't sure what to do. Maybe we just needed to rest more frequently. "All right then, give me your hands and let's go." I decided to help him up and see how he looked standing. Maybe, if I was lucky, he wouldn't be able to stand and he'd fall over, which would help my argument for his staying here and my going alone.

Unfortunately though he stood up without a problem, but he was leaning on me. So we started off again, more slowly than last time, following the river downstream for about twenty minutes before he caused us to stop again.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" He asked suddenly, and I looked at him with surprise.

"Yes I'm sure."

"I'm not," he said, pausing to look at the river. I did the same, confused and wondering for a moment if maybe we were going the wrong way.

"No we're going to right way," I said, suddenly pointing at the river. "See, the river is flowing down from the mountain to the lake, so if we follow the river downstream, we'll get to the lake." I felt proud of myself for remembering that.

"It's not going downstream," he said, and he sounded kind of confused again. This was it. I had to leave him behind.

"Listen Ace, you're confused. I think you should stay here and let me go for help," I was determined to make him see reason this time.

"No, no you're wrong. You're always wrong," he looked around suddenly, before bringing his hands up to his head and mumbling about the sun in his eyes and his headache.

"Ace, we're stopping again and you're sitting down and resting. You're not well at all," I said with the most authoritative tone I could muster. I led him over to the trees again, almost having to push him down to get him to sit. He wanted to keep walking.

What could I do? It seemed to me like he was getting a little delirious. I had a very bad feeling that if I left him, he'd wander off. Maybe rest would clear his head again and I could get him back to a state of coherency. Maybe. But if not?

I stood up then and started taking the sleeping bag out of its pouch, deciding that maybe if I got him to lie down and sleep, it would help even more. I don't think he'd been sleeping before, something about the way he'd responded so quickly to me touching his forehead made me think he'd been awake the whole time.

As I was unrolling it I suddenly heard a retching sound from behind me and turned in time to see Ace leaning over to his left, throwing up. Oh this was definitely not good at all!

I dropped the sleeping bag and rushed back to him, crouching down though I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do. When at least he seemed to be finished he rolled back over upright and I could see that his face was practically white as a sheet. Damn it! This was horrible! If only I'd stuck to my intuition and left him by himself to go back, he'd be okay! Every decision I'd made so far was the wrong one!

"That's it; you're lying down and sleeping. You can't go any further!" I left him by the tree to go and get the pack and sleeping bag. I got him to drink a bit of water as I laid the sleeping bag out beside him.

"Not tired," he said, though I couldn't see how that was possible. But he was in no position to really argue, so he did as I told him to and lay down on the sleeping bag. I spread the other one over him like a blanket, covering his head so the light wouldn't bother him. It was also so he wouldn't see me sitting next to him, shaking like a leaf.

He was sick. Badly sick; and I didn't know what to do! What were these signs of? Just the concussion, or had he picked up some kind of bug? How were you supposed to tell? All I could do now was wait. There was no way I could leave him to go and get help, not like this. What good would it be if I went off to find help and brought help back only to find that he'd rolled over and then choked on his own vomit if he got sick again? I had to wait and see if sleeping would make him feel better. There was no other way.


	7. Chapter 7

It was tough on me, sitting and waiting, watching as the sun crept lower and lower toward the trees. There was no way I could leave to get help when the sun set, it was too dangerous. Plus I didn't want to leave him alone in the dark. As eight o'clock rolled past I forced myself to eat another half of the sandwich, along with an apple. I wouldn't be any good to Ace if I collapsed from hunger. In order to pass the time waiting I had started reading the book he'd brought with him (since mine had washed away in the river), though it wasn't exactly to my taste – too much violence. It wasn't exactly something I had pictured him reading anyway, it was awfully long and had been translated from Japanese. I'm not really sure what I expected him to like reading (probably books on sports, like Teddy), but a six hundred page book with small text to boot wasn't it.

When it was nearing nine o'clock I decided I'd better wake him up to check on him. Since it was so late I was staying put for the night, even though it would undoubtedly be a crappy night. I crawled over to his side and put my hand to his forehead again, and felt that it was still cold and clammy. Not a good sign. I pulled the sleeping bag back from his face, since the sun was now down behind the trees and wouldn't bother him. His skin still looked very pale. I decided I might as well try to wake him, if only to make sure that I still could. I touched his arm and shook it gently.

He stirred then, blinking his eyes open and looking up at me. "Lancer?"

"Yeah, just checking on you to see how you're feeling." I watched him to see if he looked confused and out of it, or if his senses were at least returning to him somewhat.

"My throat, kinda burns," he said, speaking slowly but surely, at least. He sounded aware of himself.

"Probably because you threw up before. Do you remember that?" He said he didn't, and I felt worried again. All of this waking up and never remembering what had just happened was unnerving me greatly, because I wasn't sure if it was normal or not. I got him the water and had to help him sit up so he could drink it. He could barely sit upright on his own.

"So, aside from your throat, how do you feel?" I felt kind of bad about asking him to talk when his throat was sore, but I needed to know how he was feeling.

"Tired," he said, and even his voice sounded sleepy, "and dizzy."

"You should probably lie back down then and sleep some more. I just wanted to check on you." I watched as he slid back down into the sleeping bag, closing his eyes and passing out again instantly. It was so eerie, seeing someone who had more energy and stamina than anyone I knew being so weak.

In another half hour the sun had finally set completely, leaving us in the dark. That was also when I noticed that the flashlight that was supposed to be in Ace's pack was also gone, which made me quite uneasy. It was really dark out here, though the stars were gorgeous. I lay on my stomach, my hands clasped beneath my chin, staring up at the sky above the river. There were too many tree branches overhead for me to lie on my back, and I didn't want to leave Ace to sit by the river, because knowing my luck so far on this trip, I probably wouldn't be able to find him again.

As I laid there I let my head wander, thinking of the different constellations. There was Canis Major and Minor, the two dogs. I smiled when I thought about them, because they made me think of my family. Both of my parents were very interested in astronomy and had taught me the constellations from a young age. Canis Minor had been my favourite as a little kid, because everyone called it the "hotdog". Thinking of my parents was both comforting and bittersweet.

If they were here right now (or if I could talk to them) they would know exactly what to do in this situation. They'd both spent a lot of time doing wilderness exploration when they were younger, and I'm sure they'd come across this sort of situation before. But it also felt bittersweet because if only I'd gone with them instead of begging to come here, Ace wouldn't be hurt right now, and I wouldn't be feeling so useless. And guilty.

I knew that the last thing I could do right now was allow myself to give in to my bad emotions, so instead of curling up into a ball and telling myself how worthless I was, I looked to the northeast of Canis Major, finding another favourite constellation - Orion the Hunter. When I turned eight years old, my mother had had our chef bake me a birthday cake shaped like the constellation, because I'd become obsessed with it. So obsessed that I'd begged my dad to let me take up archery, despite the fact that I was a kid. I so badly wanted to be a hunter; even though I didn't fully realize at the time that being a hunter would mean that I would have to shoot animals (which I now thought was a little barbaric).

He'd told me I was too young to take up archery, and I'd sulked for a week. But then he'd bought me a Nerf bow and arrow set, and all was forgiven. I ran around outside shooting foam arrows at everything that moved (and a few things that didn't). The usual victim was our gardener, who never really seemed to mind. Sometimes, if he wasn't that busy, he would play with me and pretend to be a stag running around our lawn. I would shoot him and he'd start limping, and after I shot him a second time he would make a big production of falling to the ground and dying, and I would do a little dance around him before jumping on him.

He'd died last year, so thinking about him made me a little sad. He'd been a really nice man, and had always been willing to help me with things when my dad hadn't been around. He once spent six hours helping me make a robotised Venus Fly Trap, which had been a project for my science class.

My parents hadn't exactly been around a lot, but I wasn't mad at them about it. I knew they loved me, but they also loved their jobs and they loved exploring, and besides, everyone who worked for us became like family, so I always had a lot of people around at home.

But thinking of them all was making me upset still, so I turned on to my back and stared at the dark canopy of branches and leaves above our heads instead. I was going to have to leave Ace here by himself tomorrow to go and get help. I just hoped he would be coherent enough to understand that and remember it; otherwise we were going to be in some trouble.

Now that it was dark it got a little chilly, but I wanted Ace to be warm, so I couldn't use one of the sleeping bags. So instead I pulled his sweater out of his bag and put it on, hoping it would help somewhat. I had a feeling this would be a very long night.

* * *

Leaf Sparrow hummed silently while behind the wheel of the Jeep, heading north. He and his partner Magnus had just checked in on one pair of boys, who'd made it to their site safely. That had been the fifth pair on their route they'd had to check, and so far everything was going well. The boys were finding their proper spots and setting up for the night perfectly. They were now en route to their sixth pair, the ones who were furthest north. Leaf wasn't worried about them and actually didn't even feel the need to check on them, but it had to be done.

One of the boys, Ace, was in his cabin. Leaf knew the kid wouldn't have any trouble navigating and getting set up, and he had actually brought him a bit of a snack as a surprise (so he played favourites, he wasn't ashamed to admit it). The kid reminded him a lot of himself when he was thirteen. That was ten years ago, though it didn't feel that long.

"Make a right here," Magnus called out, consulting the map. Leaf turned and drove straight, the Jeep rumbling along the side of a stream. The boys should be another few hundred metres ahead. But when they got to the designated site, they didn't see anyone. He turned off the Jeep and looked at Magnus.

"They should be here, right? Did we go far enough?"

Magnus consulted the map again, "they actually should have been just a little further back, but there was nothing. Do you think maybe they went on ahead?"

Leaf shook his head. "No, Ace is pretty by the book, he'd be setting up precisely where he was told to set up. What about the other kid? He's in your cabin, right?"

Magnus nodded. "Yeah, Lancer would just go with whatever Ace told him, probably. Not exactly the most outspoken of my boys." Magnus was two years older than Leaf, but they'd actually met each other at this very camp twelve years ago, where they'd been coming ever since in the summer.

"This is so weird. Should we drive a little further anyway, just to check it out?" Magnus agreed and Leaf revved the engine again, turning on the lights and driving slowly up the stream. They both kept their eyes peeled on either side of the stream, looking for a camp. After driving for a kilometre they turned around and headed back to the river, slowing down when they got back to where the boys should have been.

"Ace? Lancer? You guys out here?" Magnus called out, shining his flashlight into the trees. He didn't see anything, no sign of anyone having been here. "This is weird," he said, looking into the other side of the stream.

"You don't think anything happened, do you?" Leaf followed Magnus' flashlight around the area, looking with his own eyes and starting to worry.

"Maybe they just read the map wrong," Magnus offered, though he was also a little worried.

"No, Ace is perfect with a map and compass."

"Maybe the compass was defective?"

Leaf shook his head again. "I don't think so. Besides, he probably would have climbed up to the ridge and followed the river along, knowing him."

Magnus frowned. "Maybe we should go back and drive along the river, maybe something happened. Or maybe they overshot the location; there are a few streams that branch off further north. It's worth a shot before we send word back to camp. No point in having a search party go out if we find them five minutes later in the wrong place."

Leaf would have preferred to go looking further back instead, because he just knew that there was no way Ace would go to the wrong spot. The kid was too much of a perfectionist to get something this relatively easy wrong. But he did as Magnus suggested anyway, driving further north. After they checked the next three streams, Magnus admitted that Leaf was probably right, and that something more dire had happened.

"Do you want to check on our other pair first? They're not too far from here," Leaf asked, though what he really wanted to do was look for Ace. But if they started doing that without checking for the other team first and something had also happened to those boys, then they'd both be in a bit of trouble.

"Sure. We should radio in to camp though to let them know to start looking. After we find the other kids, we'll look for Ace and Lancer, okay?" Magnus knew his partner had a soft spot for the kid, and he was also a little wary of Lancer being alone in the wilderness. The kid did have good sense about him in the woods, but any kid with a good head could lose his ability to think clearly if a situation went wrong.

* * *

It took ten minutes to drive to their final location, where a boy from Magnus' cabin by the name of Teddy was paired with a kid from a third cabin, whose name was Bud. They pulled up and to their relief saw the boys sitting around a fire. They stopped the Jeep and got out, approaching the pair.

"Hey boys, have any trouble finding your place?" Leaf approached first, looking around at their set up. Even though he was worried, he still had a job to do, and evaluating the camp site was part of the assessment.

"No problem at all," Teddy answered, "it was easy!"

"That's good to hear. Teddy, can I have a word with you?" Magnus asked the boy with the mohawk to follow him back to the Jeep, which Teddy did cautiously, worried that he'd somehow gotten in trouble.

"Listen, I need you to be honest with me, okay?" Teddy gulped and nodded, wondering if Magnus had somehow found out about their escapade last weekend. "I know you're friends with Lancer and Ace, and I was wondering if you had seen them anywhere today?"

Teddy's face took on an immediate confused expression. Why was Magnus asking him about Ace and Lancer? "No, they left twenty minutes before us. We haven't seen anyone."

Magnus nodded, believing him. Sometimes, in the past, boys had waited around for their friends and spent a better part of the day hiking around together before separating at night to go to their individual camps. He'd thought that maybe that's what had happened here. Maybe Ace and Lancer had waited for Teddy, and then when they separated perhaps they got lost or turned around. It could happen, no matter how much Leaf believed in Ace's orienteering skills.

"Why are you asking? Did something happen?" Teddy was curious now. Maybe the guys hadn't made it to their site? He didn't know how that was possible, though. They were both really good at navigating. Maybe they lost their map?

Magnus debated telling Teddy about his friends. He didn't want to worry the kid. But if he wasn't honest, then Teddy would come to his own conclusions and spend all night worrying - or worse, he'd leave on his own to try and find them. "They didn't make it to their camp; Leaf and I are trying to figure out what happened."

Just as he'd worried, the moment he told Teddy the truth the other boy started freaking out. "That's impossible! They're two of the best guys at navigating at the camp! They couldn't get lost, I know it! Something must have happened. Can I come with you guys to help you look?"

Magnus shook his head. "No Teddy, stay here. Leaf and I are more than capable of finding them."

"Come on, Magnus! They're my best friends," a tiny bit of fear crept into Teddy's voice. Nothing could happen to them! If anything ever did, Teddy wasn't sure what he'd do.

"Really, Teddy. The best place for you to be is here, where you're supposed to be. Leaf and I will go looking, and other people from the camp will look too. I'm sure they just got turned around out there and are somewhere else, we'll find them."

Teddy frowned, ready to keep fighting. If he couldn't go with Magnus, then he'd just wait until they left and he'd leave by himself to go looking. Maybe Bud would come with him.

"I know what you're thinking, Teddy, and if you leave after we're gone, you will be in huge trouble. Something might happen to you, or you might get lost. You stay here." Magnus wasn't sure how he could convince the kid to stay put.

"But how will I know if you find them? Magnus please, I don't really have any other friends at home." It was sort of true - he did have other people in class he was friends with, but a lot of them he was friends with because of Ace. It would be weird if anything happened to him, or to Lancer. They were his best friends, and he didn't want to lose either of them.

"All right listen, I'm going to give you this walkie talkie," Magnus reached into the Jeep, pulling out the spare one they carried. "I'll set it to our second frequency, and I'll call you to give you updates, okay? But you have to promise me you'll stay here!" Magnus held the piece out, a stern look on his face.

Teddy thought about it for a second, before nodding and taking the walkie talkie. Maybe walking around the woods at night wouldn't be the smartest idea in the world. At least he'd be able to get updates from Magnus. "Okay, I promise I'll stay here. But you better call me! And not just when you find them either!"

Magnus could see past the teenage bravado that Teddy was scared about his friends being lost, and he felt for him. "I promise you, every fifteen minutes I'll call you, okay? As soon as we find them, or someone else does, I will let you know. Deal?" Teddy nodded, and Magnus laid a hand on his mohawked head. "All right then, go back over by the fire and try not to worry too much. Sorry you had to hear about this, but I wanted to make sure you hadn't seen them today, since it might have given us a clue about where they went."

Just before Teddy was about to walk back to the fire he paused, as though there was something he wanted to say. Magnus waited to see if he'd speak, but when it looked like he was about to turn around, he put a hand on Teddy's shoulder to stop him. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Teddy turned back around, his eyes downcast and his mouth frowning. "Well, it's just that, I don't know if it makes a difference! Forget it," he turned to leave again, but Magnus stopped him again.

"Tell me, Teddy." He had no idea what the kid was trying to say, but Teddy wasn't the type who went about things with this level of uncertainty. Usually he spoke without thinking.

"Well, Ace and Lance, see, they kind of don't really like each other any more." Teddy wasn't sure why he was saying anything. He'd been worried when the boys were paired together (and also a bit jealous) but secretly had hoped that maybe being alone for the weekend would make them get over their problems and be friends again.

"Are you saying you think there might have been a problem because of it?" This was news to Magnus. Had something happened between the boys?

"I don't know!" Teddy answered, crossing his arms. "I just thought that maybe you should know. Maybe they got in a fight and got separated, or something." Teddy felt almost guilty saying it.

Magnus nodded. "I see. Well Teddy, sometimes boys get paired up for this exercise who don't like each other, but when they come back, they're suddenly good friends. Maybe, if they're still together, they'll work together and that will help them work out their problems. So try not to worry about them, okay?" Teddy nodded and Magnus let him go back to the fire. He sat in the Jeep and waited for Leaf, mulling over what Teddy had told him. If the boys really were enemies, what if they had separated from each other and were alone?

He really hoped that wasn't the case.

* * *

I woke up suddenly, sitting up and looking around (though I couldn't see a thing). Something had woken me up, but I wasn't sure what it had been. I sat still, breathing heavily and listening. Had it been a crashing sound near me?

But then I heard it again and my blood chilled. Howling wolves. I didn't even know there were wolves in the park! We'd been told about the occasional bear, but not wolves! I waited to hear them again, trying to judge how close they sounded. I wondered why they were howling to begin with, and I tried to remember if I'd ever read anything on wolves. I heard it again, and tried to figure out which direction it was coming from. I was pretty sure it was on the other side of the river, but I wasn't exactly sure. Everything seemed to echo out here.

I sat still, wishing I had the flashlight. It wouldn't really do a lot of good, but it would make me feel slightly better. A few minutes passed and the wolves seemed to have stopped their howling, but I was still tense, just knowing they were out there. Were they hunting something? Maybe they'd made a kill and were stopping their howling to eat? I wasn't sure.

I looked at my watch, pressing the button to illuminate the time. It read 03:02 and I felt frustrated at the wolves. I wasn't sure how long it had taken me to fall asleep (because looking at my watch always made the time go by more slowly) but I knew it had taken me a while. But at least I had slept for a bit. I'd been worried that I wouldn't, because I was so worried about everything. I guess I'd worn myself out.

It certainly hadn't been comfortable, lying on the ground. My shoulder was sore, along with my back. I sat up and stretched a little, rubbing my hands over my legs. At least the upper half of my body was warm with the extra sweater. I looked over at where I knew Ace's body was, barely making it out in the darkness. The presence of the wolves made me even more nervous about having to leave Ace tomorrow. What if some kind of animal stumbled upon him when I was gone? What if I came back to find his body torn up and mangled by a bear? How would I be able to live with myself?

I then wondered if I should wake Ace up again, or if I should let him sleep. After all, I'm sure he'd fall asleep again if I did wake him. But then what would happen if I couldn't wake him up? I knew I'd probably start freaking out, and the fact that it was dark would just make it a lot worse. I sat still, hugging my knees to my chest, wondering what I should do. All I knew was that I don't think I'd fall asleep again, not with the way my heart was pounding from hearing those wolves.

Just then I heard a branch snap off to my left, and I nearly jumped. What if it was an animal? What if a bear had smelled us, and was coming to investigate? What if it was the wolves? I heard it again, a little closer this time, and then I heard something rustling around in a bush and my heart nearly stopped. It was definitely an animal.

What should I do? Maybe it was just a raccoon, but what if it was a bear? Or wolves? Or a coyote, or something else entirely? I tried to calm myself down, tried to control my breathing. Oh how I wished I had that flashlight! I'm sure the burst of light would scare whatever was there.

Suddenly there was the sound of quick footsteps and an animal grunt and I heard the animal come suddenly through the bush and into our clearing and I couldn't help but scream before jumping up. As soon as I was on my feet I breathed a little sigh of relief. Just a raccoon. I knew they scared pretty easily, so I moved towards it and made noises and it ran off, terrified. Maybe it had smelled my food.

I returned back to Ace, breathing heavily, and my heart still beating its way out of my chest. I sat down and reached for the water, drinking a bit to try and calm myself down. I wish I could sleep again, if only to get rid of the fear gripping my heart, lungs, and stomach.

But then I felt something hit my cheek, and I knew we were in for trouble.

It was starting to rain.


	8. Chapter 8

I'd had to wake Ace up again so we could move (even though I really didn't want to move him) but I'd found a spot underneath a massive tree that seemed to be keeping dry due to the number of branches overhead. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. The last thing Ace needed was to get wet again. His clothes were still a little damp from being in the river, so if he got stuck in the rain I could only imagine how much worse that would make things. Luckily the tree wasn't too far from our spot, but it had still been a struggle getting him to stand so I could help him walk over to it. He was so unsteady on his feet! I got him set up in his sleeping bag again and he passed out quickly (the fact that he'd woken up had made me feel a little better, at least) and now I sat beside him with my back to the tree, listening to the rain fall against the leaves. Usually I loved listening to the rain, but now it was horrible, because the rain made everything so much worse. If it kept up it would be bad, because it would get colder, and if Ace got wet and cold I'm sure he'd only get even sicker.

So I sat and hoped that it would stop soon, because I didn't want it to rain when I left him in the morning to find help. I was debating leaving him, though, convinced something would happen when he was all alone. If he didn't make it, it was all on my shoulders, and that was scary. I'd never been responsible for anyone other than myself before.

I pulled the sweater tighter around me as I hunched against the tree, the sound of the rain only keeping me awake. At least only a few drops were getting through, and we were both fairly dry. That was the important thing. I took an apple out of the bag and figured I might as well eat it, just for something to do at least. I was worried that we'd run out of food, but if I really was going to leave tomorrow to find my way back to camp, I would need some energy.

Besides, it didn't seem like Ace was all that interested in eating. It would be pointless to make him eat if he was just going to throw up later. So maybe that would buy me some more energy with his share. The thing I was actually most worried about was the water. Water was the only thing he wanted, but there wasn't that much of it left. Sure there was a stream nearby, but there were probably harmful bacteria in it, and without the ability to boil it, it wouldn't be safe to drink.

That was yet another reason that led me toward the belief that I had to leave him. It would be pointless for us to both stay here and suffer from dehydration.

* * *

The search for the boys had been on for four hours already, but nothing had turned up yet. It was hard to search at night, since there was virtually no chance to track where they had gone. When the first drop of rain fell Leaf looked up at the sky and felt like cursing. Rain would make everything worse! Any evidence of what may have happened would be washed away. He'd been jittery and on edge all night and things had only gotten worse when that pack of wolves had started howling. Of course they were quite a ways off, but he worried that to two lost boys in the woods, it may spook them.

They were driving down the river now, going slowly and monitoring the woods on each side of the bank, scanning for any sign of a camp set up. There were other search parties scattered around different areas, but for some reason Leaf was sure the boys would be near the water, because it was the sensible thing to do. Stay near a big landmark. Maybe they were headed back down to the lake, intent on following it around back to the camp. It would be a bit of a hike, and what if one of them was injured? He'd been keeping himself busy contemplating what could have happened to them, much to the annoyance of Magnus, who'd told him to stop worrying until they found the kids.

But he couldn't help it. In all his years as a counsellor, this was the first time a camper had gone missing on a navigation exercise. Sure, some kids had gotten a little lost, but they were always in the vicinity of where they were supposed to be. These two were nowhere near where they should have been.

"Hey Leaf," Magnus called over the Jeep's engine, "look down there, on the other side. See how the bank's pretty level with the water? What if they fell into the river back there, and weren't able to climb out until they got here. Maybe they're off in that side of the woods somewhere? What do you think?"

Leaf looked over at the opposite bank, thinking that Magnus may have a point. "I think you might be on to something. Should we scale down the cliff and go check?"

Magnus thought about it, but shook his head. "Not right now. It's too dangerous with the rain and the darkness. But let's keep going and pay close attention to that side of the riverbank. If we see anything obvious, then maybe we'll consider going down to check it out. But there's nothing right here to suggest they were there, so I don't think we should risk ourselves going down."

"Are you sure?" Leaf asked, "what if they're hurt over there, waiting for someone to find them?" He hated the thought of the boys being camped out in the thick woods, just beyond the reach of their flashlights. He didn't want to pass them by.

"Let's keep going, and if the cliff drops, maybe we'll think about it." Leaf didn't like having to submit to Magnus' idea, but he knew that he might not be thinking with a clear head. So for now he kept driving slowly along the top of the cliff, looking into the tree line on his side while Magnus looked at the river bank on the other side. A few times they stopped to yell out to the boys again, but they never heard anything in return.

* * *

The sun started rising again around five-thirty in the morning, and I figured that I may as well get as early a start as possible, since I hadn't slept at all. The bad news was that it was still raining, but at least it wasn't a torrential downpour, just a light rain. Everything would still be wet, though, which was going to make it very uncomfortable for me.

I knelt down next to Ace, lightly shaking his arm. I'd need to wake him up and talk to him to ensure he knew what was going on. I was still worried about leaving him, though, especially since I wasn't really sure how long it would take to get back to camp, nor was I exactly sure how I'd remember where Ace was. I was going to have to come up with something, and then hope that Ace would be okay until I got back with help.

"Hey Ace, wake up," I shook the other boy's arm, worried when it took him a little while to wake. "How are you feeling?"

Ace still looked pale and felt clammy, but seemed aware of his surroundings for once. "Tired," he said, before looking up at me.

"I know, but how are you feeling aside from that? Do you feel sick, or do you think you can try to eat something?" One thing I did want to look into was if Ace could manage to eat anything. Even if it was just bread from the sandwich, that would make me happy. Just getting something into him was all I was concerned about.

"I don't know, maybe," Ace struggled to push himself up into a sitting position, and I got behind him to help. I sat him back against the tree and waited to see if sitting up would make him feel ill as it had the night before. Luckily he seemed to be okay (or at least he wasn't telling me that he felt sick) so I hoped that maybe this would mean that he would be able to hold something down for once.

"Why don't you try eating some bread," I said, reaching for the last sandwich and opening the bag to tear a bit of the bread off. "Here, see if you can hold that down."

He took the bread and stared at it before putting it to his mouth and slowly beginning to chew. He seemed okay at first but when he tried to swallow I could see that this wasn't going to work. I was barely able to help him lean over to the side before he threw up again, and I felt yesterday's negative emotions coming back at me. I was utterly useless.

I sat behind him and held on to him (because it felt like he was going to fall over if I just left him) while reaching for the water. I took off the cap and tried to give it to him, but he refused. I felt his forehead again and was relieved that it was still cold and clammy (because at least this meant that him being sick was just because of the concussion, and not because he'd picked up a bug and had a fever - or at least I hoped that's what it meant).

How could I leave him like this? He was in no condition to be left alone. But there wasn't anything else I could do. I just wished that I knew how far it was to the camp. Or where any of the other boys were, so I could find one of them and use their flare.

I was brought back to the present scenario by Ace shifting slightly in front of me, and I was worried because I could feel him shivering. I should probably get him back in the sleeping bag so he was warm.

"Hey Lance," he said suddenly, catching me off guard.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say, thanks," though he was sick, his tone of voice was about as sincere as I'd ever heard it before.

"Hey, no problem," I answered, unsure of how to respond, "I mean, this whole thing is my fault anyway, right?" As soon as I'd spoken I wished I hadn't said anything. But he ignored my comment.

"Must be hard, I know you don't like me."

I couldn't stop the words before they were out of my mouth, as though his comment had triggered my desire to spew out all the questions I'd ever had for him regarding this. "Ace, why did we stop being friends? Why did you start hating me?" Once again I wished I'd been able to control my voice, but the questions were out there now and there was nothing I could do about them. I did feel a little better though, I had to admit. Ever since he'd fallen off the cliff I'd forgotten how angry I'd been at him since last week, but now everything came flooding back and being able to vocalise my frustration was immensely helpful.

But I still hoped he'd ignore my questions the way he'd ignored my comment a moment ago. This was the last thing we needed to be talking about right now. Unfortunately though he didn't seem to agree with me.

"Teddy," was all he said, and it confused me. He hated me because of Teddy? That made zero sense, and suddenly I wondered if maybe he was getting delirious again.

"What do you mean?" But I still had to ask.

"Lance, who would you say is your best friend?"

I was surprised again by his question, confused beyond belief as to what that had to do with anything. Besides, he didn't really need to ask me, did he? "Teddy," I answered.

"And if you asked me, who was my best friend?"

"Teddy," I answered, starting to at least see the beginning of reason. So we had the same best friend. We'd all been friends since we were kids, so I didn't understand why it had to change now.

Ace paused before speaking again, drawing in a deep but rattling breath. "And if you asked Teddy, who his best friend is? Who do you think he would choose?"

I paused then, thinking about it. I was starting to see exactly where he was going, but it still didn't make any sense. He sounded completely sure of his comments, though, so this wasn't delirium speaking from his mouth. I thought about Teddy then, and about his relationship with the both of us. He always did whatever Ace told him to do, and even though he never acted like a jerk when we were alone, whenever Ace was there Teddy became his little puppet, leaving me behind. The answer was clear, and it kind of stung that Ace had asked it right now. Was he trying to make me feel worse?

"He'd choose you," I said, not understanding how this could possibly have led Ace to hate me. Unless he thought I was taking up too much of Teddy's time?

"You're wrong," Ace said, and at first I wasn't sure what he meant. Wrong? When I didn't say anything he kept talking. "Teddy would say that it's you."

I shook my head, wondering if maybe it was delirium speaking after all. "No, Ace. Maybe you don't see it the way I do. When we're alone, sure, Teddy and me, we get along perfect. But then, whenever you're there," I paused, not sure if I should really be talking about this right now. What if what I had to say would bother him, or make him feel bad? But I was stuck now anyway, so I continued. "Whenever you're there, he acts like a jerk. He puts me down just to impress you. That's not how you treat your true best friend."

Ace was silent for a moment, and I wondered if now he saw what I saw. But he still disagreed. "He just does that because he knows you'll still be his friend. He trusts you, Lance. He doesn't trust me."

I was shocked by that comment. How could Ace think that? I knew for a fact that Teddy trusted him, because he always followed along with anything Ace ever said or did. "He trusts you, are you kidding me? You say jump, he doesn't even ask how high, he just jumps!" I winced a little at my corny example, but it was true. Ace spoke, and Teddy followed. That's the way it always was. "He wouldn't follow you around if he didn't trust you."

"That's not trust, Lance. He's afraid of me," Ace replied, "Afraid that if he doesn't do what he thinks I want him to do, I won't be his friend." Ace coughed suddenly after the comment, and I couldn't help but feel a little worried. Was he coughing because his throat was dry? Or was he getting sicker?

I wasn't sure what to say to him, though. I guess that maybe it made sense, on some level. I still didn't buy it. "I don't know, Ace. I think maybe you don't trust Teddy enough."

"He used to like Sweetheart, you know," Ace then said suddenly and my nerves pricked up a little. I wondered if Ace knew that I liked Sweetheart? "I told him that I didn't really like her, so he went for Bon Bon instead."

I hadn't known that. Teddy had never told me that he liked Sweetheart, or that Ace had told him that he didn't like her. And why wouldn't he like her? She was the most likeable person in the world! But that didn't matter at the moment. "So you told him not to date her because you didn't like her?" I knew I sounded a little rude in my question, but I couldn't help it. Did he think she wasn't good enough or something?

"No," he said, "I didn't tell him anything. He just thought I didn't want him to date her," Ace paused again to breathe more deeply, "so he didn't date her, because he was afraid I'd be mad."

It was all starting to come together for me now. "So what makes you think he thinks of me as his best friend?" That was the part I still wasn't sure about.

"Because he's not afraid to be himself with you," Ace answered, shivering a little more, "you don't judge him."

"Do you judge him?" I asked, still kind of confused about the whole dynamic of his friendship with Teddy.

"No," he replied, "but he thinks I do, so that's why he's always a jerk when he's with me. He wants me to think he's tough, because he thinks that's why we're friends."

I was surprised that Ace had thought of all of this to begin with, and even more so that he remembered it after his accident! How long had this been eating at him, though? I almost couldn't blame him for taking out his frustration on me over the past year. There he was, trying to cling to friendship with someone who was afraid of displeasing him, and there I was, the safe friendship, the one Teddy could always come back to without fear of repercussion. It totally made sense, and it kind of made me feel sorry for Ace. And it's not like he could talk to Teddy about it, because guys our age don't talk about these sorts of things with each other.

At least not under normal circumstances. "You're making a lot of sense," I replied softly, wondering what I was supposed to do now.

"What a shock, huh?"

I actually laughed just a bit at his comment, because it was true. He'd spent half a day drifting in and out of consciousness, sometimes not making any sense, and yet here he was this morning clarifying so much for me. It left me feeling horrible about the whole situation, though.

"You probably wonder why it matters to me, about Teddy," he went on, and he was right. Ace could be friends with anyone he wanted to be friends with, so why not just find a new best friend if Teddy was slipping away? "I don't really have any friends, except for him, and Patch."

"Are you crazy? You have more friends than anyone," I replied, but as soon as I spoke I started thinking about what he'd just told me about Teddy. Maybe he felt that way about everyone else who said they were his friend too.

"No, everyone is just too intimidated by me," he said, drawing a deep breath again, "they just think being friends with me will make them cool. I don't even know if Mel really likes me that much."

That I was shocked about. "Come on, Ace. Melody does like you," I paused, totally thinking that this wasn't the time for lectures, but that we were already on the topic anyway and maybe he deserved to hear it, "even though you treat her badly sometimes."

"I do that on purpose," he surprised me by saying, "to see if she'll stay anyway."

"That's stupid," I immediately replied, totally meaning it. "You're complaining that Teddy doesn't trust you, and yet you don't trust your girlfriend, who you should trust. She doesn't deserve that, Ace. She cares about you," I said, sure of it after overhearing her talk last week with Bon Bon. "She does think you're a bit of a jerk, but I guess sometimes you are nice to her, and she thinks that the nice guy is the real you, and not the jerk."

He didn't respond to that, and I wondered why. Did he not believe me? Or did he just not want to believe me, because it was easier not trusting people?

"I wasn't always a jerk to her," he said, "just recently."

That had me curious. "Why, did something happen?"

Ace sighed before answering. "Long story, but it's not her fault. I just can't help it," he sounded a little bothered over the comment, and I wondered what was going on with him. I looked at my watch and saw that half an hour had gone by, and as much as I wanted to stay and keep talking, I should really be leaving soon if I was going to get him help.

"Listen, Ace," I wasn't totally sure about how to end this, for now at least, but I did need to get going and I think he needed to get back in his sleeping bag and rest. He'd been shaking and shivering quite a bit for the past little while, and the conversation no doubt had to be draining on him. "I want to stay and talk to you more, because I think I really understand you now, but I have to leave. You really need help, and I don't know how long it will take me to get back to camp. Are you going to be okay?" I know it was a stupid question, but what else were you supposed to say in this situation?

"I guess," he said, and I felt horrible about leaving him. Not only was he in trouble physically, but I'm sure he was probably hurting emotionally right now too. I really wanted to find out what had happened to him lately, but I was worried about getting him help. He wasn't eating or even drinking any more, and he still felt cold and clammy. He needed a doctor.

"Okay, well, hopefully I'll find someone and be back later today, that's why I want to go early," I explained, "I'll leave you the rest of the water in case you get thirsty."

"You take the food, I won't eat it," he said, as though the mere sight of food would make him sick again.

"I will. You just try and sleep all day, maybe it'll help." I wasn't sure what else to say. Try not to get eaten by a bear? I hope those wolves I heard howling last night don't find you? Instead I just helped him back into his sleeping bag, pulling the other one over him like a blanket and pulling it up to his face so he could hide from the sun if it came through the trees later.

"I think you should be okay here, the sun shouldn't bother you too much and if it keeps raining you should stay dry," I said, still feeling bad about leaving. I was still scared about leaving.

"I'll be okay, Lance," he said to me before closing his eyes.

I stood up and stared down at him for a moment, still shivering violently in his sleeping bag, before putting the water bottle beside his head, and picking up the pack with the extra sandwich and fruit. It was still raining a little, so I zipped up his sweater and then turned to start off. I was going to follow the river to the lake, and hopefully make my way back to camp.

I was just scared about remembering where he was.


	9. Chapter 9

It was six thirty in the morning, and Leaf and Magnus had just gone back out to start searching again in the daylight. They'd gone back to camp just past four thirty, getting something to eat and talking with the other camp staff who'd been searching. No one had seen any sign of the boys during the night, which was both worrisome but also could be due to the fact that they had simply found somewhere to settle for the evening that was safe. They would probably have better luck during the day when they could see.

Magnus was driving now since Leaf had been driving all night, and Leaf had insisted they go back to the river to search again. Magnus had agreed, mostly to appease Leaf. Other teams were scouting different areas. The other boys would be coming back into camp during the day, and Magnus hoped they could find the missing campers before everyone returned. None of the girls were aware of any problems yet, and so far the only other boys who knew were Teddy and Bud.

Magnus reached the start of the river, stopping briefly so Leaf could scan the area. "I wish there was a bridge so we could drive on the other side," Leaf said, that feeling still weighing heavily on him that the boys were on the opposite side of the river.

"You wanna get some wood and construct one?" Magnus asked with a smile, laughing when Leaf glared at him.

"I'm serious. I feel positive they're over there; it's the only thing that makes sense. Let's head back toward the area where the river bank levelled out on that side," Leaf suggested. Magnus agreed and drove off slowly, leaving time for his younger partner to search the tree line on the other side of the bank.

They'd been driving for ten minutes when suddenly Magnus saw two boys in the woods off to his right and he stopped. "That's not them is it?" He asked Leaf, who turned suddenly to study them with his binoculars.

"No, not them. Just Reed and Cobalt," he replied, disappointment heavy in his voice. They continued on, Leaf turning his binoculars back to the other side of the river. He wasn't sure what he'd do if the boys didn't turn up today.

* * *

I walked back toward the river and stopped when I heard the currents rushing. We'd gone further into the woods than I'd thought last night, which was a little distressing. How was I going to remember where he was? Especially if help came back when it was dark out? I looked around on the ground, scanning for anything I could use to identify the site. I could always shove some sticks into the ground by the river; maybe make an arrow that pointed into the woods? That way if anyone who was out searching saw it without finding me first, they'd investigate. That seemed like a really good idea to me, so I set about picking up sticks from the ground. Once I had enough I walked out from beneath the trees, pulling up the hood of the sweater to shield myself from the rain as much as possible. I made an arrow pointing back the way I'd come, going back twice to get more sticks to make it bigger and more noticeable. I also shoved a few sticks into the ground so they would stick up, easier to see than wood lying on the ground. I guessed that was all I could do for now. I just hoped nothing would come along to ruin my arrow.

I went back under the trees to stay out of the heavier rain, though I was already wet. I took the sandwich out and started eating, starving after my work on the arrow. It really sucked walking through the wooded area here, because it wasn't as well covered as the area further in where I'd left Ace. The grass was wet and muddy, so my hiking boots were ruined already and my feet were wet. I kept getting splashes of water in my face from the rain and tree branches alike, but at least it wasn't whipping into my face like it would have been were I out in the open.

I wondered if anyone was looking for us yet. I had assumed that someone would have checked on us last night, and once they'd seen we hadn't made it to our camp site they would have alerted the camp. But would they have started looking already, or would they wait until everyone returned, and gone out to look then? Maybe they'd just thought we'd camped in the wrong area.

I hoped someone was looking now. Ace couldn't afford to wait much longer. I trudged along through the grass and bushes, feeling desperately hopeless and guilty again. This was all my fault! If only I hadn't lost the map, then Ace and I would have been at our camp site last night, and we would have had a nice night (despite the fact that we probably wouldn't have talked to each other) and even though walking back into camp today would suck, at least we'd both be okay.

Then again, Ace had been extremely open with me about why our friendship had gone sour. Maybe things between us would be okay again when we got back and he got better. Maybe I could talk to Teddy for him, and tell him how Ace felt. Or maybe when he was better, Ace would resent me for ruining the trip for him, and then he'd be embarrassed that he'd told me about his problems and he'd deny them all and hate me even more.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but anything would be better than this. I just wanted him to be okay.

* * *

I'd been walking for half an hour when suddenly I thought I heard something above the drum of the rain. I stopped and listened more intently, even coming out a little closer to the river. I thought I was hallucinating at first, but I wasn't. There on the other side of the river, on the top of the twenty foot high cliff, was a camp Jeep.

I ran out from the trees like a lunatic, yelling and waving my arms and hoping they would hear me over the sound of the motor and the rain (which had of course only gotten heavier). The Jeep was a little bit further back from where I was, and I wondered how it had passed me by without me hearing it? That didn't matter though, because I ran full speed in its direction, yelling at the top of my lungs.

Suddenly it stopped and one of the guys in it turned back in my direction, throwing down his binoculars and jumping out of the Jeep. I recognized him as being one of the counsellors from Ace's cabin, though I couldn't remember his name. To my relief the guy who joined him suddenly was Magnus, from my cabin.

We were going to be okay.

* * *

Magnus felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders when Leaf said that he could see Lancer, and when he saw the boy with his own eyes he felt like collapsing in relief. He'd shouted at Lancer to stay there, and that they'd come over.

"Okay so we found Lancer, where the hell is Ace?" Leaf asked, still worried.

"He must be hurt, that's my guess." Magnus hated the thought, especially since he knew that Ace was Leaf's favourite kid this summer. "Listen, I'm going over, but I want you to stay here. I know you're going to protest, but if he is hurt, we're probably going to need to pull him up the cliff and it'll be a hell of a lot easier if we use the Jeep. And you know I'm better in rescue scenarios than you so don't argue."

Leaf nodded, though he wanted to say fuck the pulley system and simply dive into the river. He knew he wasn't thinking straight though, his concern mingled with his lack of sleep causing him to react irrationally.

"Help me get the rope hooked up to the Jeep, okay?" They went back to the vehicle, pulling a length of rope out of the back seat and securing it to the bumper. Magnus tied the rope around his waist, before preparing to scale down the cliff to the water.

"Hey be careful, all right? The current looks pretty strong," Leaf said, worried that Magnus's lack of sleep might work against him. The pouring rain certainly wasn't helping matters at all.

"I will be." That said Magnus started his descent down the cliff face, and Leaf watched on in worry, hoping he wouldn't slip. After what seemed like an hour to the worry-fraught Leaf (but was only a few minutes) Magnus had reached the water and untied himself before making his way across the river. Lancer had been right there to meet him, and all Leaf could do was watch and wait.

* * *

It had been pure torture, waiting until Magnus finally got across the river. Numerous times on his way down his foot had slipped on the rocks, and all I could envision was him losing his footing and plummeting to the rocks below. Luckily Magnus was skilled in rock climbing and river crossings, because all of a sudden there he was, coming out of the water with his eyes set on me. I rushed to him and was torn between my desire to blurt everything out and my desire to hug him purely out of relief.

"What happened? Where's Ace?" Luckily he started asking questions before I had to decide.

"He's badly hurt, he fell and hit his head on a tree and I think he has a concussion!" I wished I could explain more calmly, but I just wanted to grab his hand and tug him back up the river to where I'd left him, hoping that the rain hadn't washed my sticks out.

"Where is he?" Magnus was calm, though, which made me feel a little better.

"He's about half an hour back that way, I was trying to get back to camp," I started explaining, but he cut me off.

"Do you know for sure where he is?" I nodded and explained my arrow, and Magnus nodded.

"Okay, good. I need you to lead me back to him, I'll tell Leaf to drive ahead." I watched as Magnus went back to the river's edge, yelling out instructions to Leaf. They had trouble communicating over the sound of the river and the rain, though, but suddenly I had an idea. I looked around me and found a few sticks, which I brought over to Magnus.

"I thought maybe we could show him an arrow made out of sticks so he'd know what to look for?" I stood next to Magnus and held up the sticks.

"Great idea, Lancer! Good thinking!" Magnus grabbed the sticks out of my hand and made a crude sort of arrow with them, showing it to Leaf and then pointing in the direction he should go. Leaf nodded and seemed to understand, hauling the rope up into the Jeep before turning the engine over and taking off.

"All right Lancer, you up for a jog?" He asked me with a slight grin.

"No, but I will anyway!" I replied, not waiting for him as I turned and took off the way I'd come from. I figured a thirty minute walk would take maybe ten minutes to run, and I just hoped I'd make it that long. I was pretty good when it came to running long distances, at least, but I was pretty drained and running with heavy wet clothes in the mud was a little difficult and took a lot out of a guy.

I could feel my legs begin to tremble as I ran, and my heart was pounding extra hard. I thought that maybe I was pushing myself a little too hard, but it didn't matter. I would just have to deal with it for now. I could rest when we got to Ace.

After what felt like half an hour to me (probably because I was feeling so winded) we heard the horn of the Jeep and saw Leaf standing next to it on the other side of the river, the rope already hanging down the side. Magnus waved to him and yelled at him to wait there.

"Okay Lancer, where is he?"

I pointed into the trees, unable to talk at the moment. Magnus nodded and crashed into the thicket, and after a moment spent catching my breath, I followed. Magnus had veered off to the left a little, so I called out to him and he followed me. My heart pounded uncontrollably and I felt as though my entire chest would explode until I saw Ace on the ground, exactly as I'd left him. That had been over an hour ago, and I hoped he was still okay. Despite being aware of himself enough to hold a conversation, he'd seemed to be in pretty rough shape. His violent shivering had me worried the most. What if he'd been too chilled to warm up in the sleeping bags?

I just stood there while Magnus dropped to his knees beside him, pulling the sleeping bag back and touching his forehead, before putting a finger to his neck. I saw him frown and that had me suddenly fearing the worst. I stumbled toward them, almost on the verge of breaking down. Ace had to still be okay, he had to be! I couldn't have gone through that just to lose him in an hour!

Finally Magnus stood up, motioning for me to come over to him. I was afraid of what he would say. "Okay, tell me quickly what happened."

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat so I could talk, but I couldn't. I was overcome with guilt and shame again, reminded that this was entirely my fault. It took me a moment before I could start forcing words out. "I lost our map and Ace started climbing down the cliff to get it, but then he fell off and hit his head on a tree," I paused to catch my breath, "so I had to climb down after him because he was just floating down the river. I pulled him out, and he was out for a while, then he woke up and said he wanted to walk back. I, I didn't think he should try, but he said he was okay," I stopped talking then, guilty again about not forcing him to stop sooner. If he'd just stayed where he was the first time, he wouldn't be as bad as he is now.

Magnus didn't need to hear any more, though. "Okay, that's enough. I need your help now, okay? We need to get him back to the Jeep, so I need you to help me get him up the cliff."

I nodded, though I didn't know what I could possibly do to help out. Whatever he asked, I guess. Magnus leaned down again to pick Ace up, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He started making his way back out to the river, and I wondered if I should bring the sleeping bags. I decided not to - my dad could always pay to replace them anyway.

When we made it back to the river Magnus studied the water for a moment, as though he was debating if this was a good idea. He motioned for me to stand next to him. "Do you feel comfortable getting across the river? I need you to help me with the rope. If you don't feel like you can get across though that's okay, be honest." He studied my face and I knew I couldn't lie to him.

But I did feel confident about crossing the river. "No I'm okay, besides I'm a strong swimmer, and if anything happens I know the river goes out to the lake so I'll be okay." He studied my face again and seemed to feel confident enough in my ability.

"Okay, follow behind me and be careful!" He walked out into the river first, and I followed closely behind in case anything happened to him. I was more scared that Magnus would misstep and drop Ace than I was scared about making it myself. It took us a few minutes because the current was really strong, but luckily the river only went to our waists at this point, so we were able to walk across it.

We made it to the other side and pressed up to the rock. Magnus pulled Ace down from his shoulder, propping him up against the rock wall. He fumbled with the rope and I got as close as I could, asking what I could do to help. I couldn't help but notice that Ace didn't appear to be conscious.

"Lancer, can you tie a bowline knot?" Magnus asked me all of a sudden, and I nodded. I knew all about knots, my dad had taught me from the time I was a kid. We went boating a lot, so I had to know them.

"Yeah, I can!" He told me that he wanted me to tie a bowline knot at the end of the rope, so he could use it as a foothold since there wasn't enough rope to secure around he and Ace. I knew it was rather dangerous, but thinking quickly about the situation and how much rope there was, I had to agree it was the best bet. The cliff was too rocky and sharp for them to pull Ace up on his own, because he'd constantly be scratching up against the rock wall. Worst of all was that he might slam his head against the rock.

"Okay, no problem," I said, before crouching down to start. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he wouldn't have a good grip on the rope while being pulled up. There was enough rope to make another knot for a handhold, so I told him I was going to make him an alpine butterfly so he could have something to hold on to. He nodded, and in a matter of seconds I had both knots tied and ready for use. I helped him slip his foot into the bowline and then secured it.

I stood back as he got ready to be pulled up, looking up to see Leaf giving the signal that he would start pulling them up with the Jeep. I really hoped he had a good enough grip on Ace, because if he dropped him... It would be a disaster.

The ascent was slow, which was good. You have to take your time with these things, my father stressed that constantly. If you rush, you'll make mistakes, especially in the rain! Climbing rock in the rain has all kinds of possibility for trouble, especially if you're carrying someone else.

It took a few minutes, but I felt relieved when I saw them disappear from view. Ace was going to be okay. He was safe.

* * *

The moment Leaf saw Magnus's head appear over the rocks he felt the first wave of relief rush over him, and when he saw Ace's body follow he slammed the Jeep into park and jumped out, rushing over to the cliff to help Magnus get the boy up. Looking at Ace's pale skin had Leaf worried. He figured the kid must have a concussion, but from what? Ace was always so careful!

He grabbed the kid under the shoulders, linking his arms around his chest. He pulled the boy up onto the grass and soon Magnus was up and over, crouching beside him. "What happened to him?" was the first question he asked, as he was quickly checking his pulse.

"Apparently he went rock climbing and fell off, cracked his head on a tree lying across the river."

Leaf frowned at the answer. "He's not that careless, was he after something? Did they lose their map?" His pulse rate seemed a little low, but that wasn't surprising if he'd fallen unconscious again. He was mostly concerned about how cold the kid was. Perhaps an onset of hypothermia from the rain? If he'd been in wet clothes ever since falling into the river and it had been raining all night, it certainly was a possibility.

"It blew off; he climbed down to get it. I don't know how many times I tell them not to do that! The cliff walls are so unsafe."

"Sure, but what else were they supposed to do? Without a map they wouldn't know where to go." Leaf couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at Magnus's comments. It was as though he thought the kid was irresponsible and rash, but Leaf knew him better. Ace wouldn't have tried climbing down if he hadn't thought the situation was safe. Accidents can happen to anyone.

"That doesn't matter; we need to get him back asap. What do you think? Lance said he refused to stay put and tried to walk back to the lake. Imagine he just made himself a great deal worse doing that."

Leaf nodded, "that would make sense, most kids think they aren't that affected by head trauma. I'm worried he might be on the hypothermic side, if he spent all night in wet clothes and now he's lying out here in the rain. What do you think?" Magnus nodded and told Leaf to get Ace in the Jeep while he went back to pull up Lancer.

* * *

A few minutes had passed since Magnus and Ace had gone over the top of the cliff and I was starting to feel just a tiny bit worried. Weren't they going to throw me the rope so I could climb up?

As the minutes went by and I neither saw nor heard anything, I suddenly started getting paranoid. They hadn't forgotten me, had they? Was Ace's condition so unstable that all they'd thought about was getting him back to camp and to a doctor?

Or maybe they were angry at me for this whole mess. It was my fault, after all. I'd told Magnus that. Were they going to teach me a lesson now, to be more careful with my stuff when out in the woods? Make me find my own way back to camp? It was what I deserved, after all. Ace was only injured because of my stupid mistake in losing the map. I stood against the rock, shivering now from the cold. I needed to get out of the river, at least.

I looked up again, deciding to give it another minute. I could try calling, but would they hear me? And what if they really were gone? Just as I was about to start truly panicking at the thought of being left behind Magnus's face appeared over the side, looking down at me. I breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't leaving me behind.

Magnus threw down the rope, yelling at me to secure myself with it. Too tired and cold to think of anything else, I made a bowline knot for my foot and grabbed the still present alpine butterfly, gripping it with both hands. I gave Magnus a thumbs up to indicate I was ready, and Magnus started pulling me up. It was a little scary when the rope first went taught and I lifted off the ground, but I quickly calmed myself down and held on, kicking off from the wall with my free foot so I wouldn't scrape against it. It was over quickly and I all but collapsed when I made it over the top, Magnus reaching down to pull me in further.

"Are you okay? Sorry we left you waiting," Magnus laid a hand on my shoulder, watching me intently.

I nodded, breathing heavily. "I'm okay," I said, still feeling frazzled. I had really thought for a moment they'd been about to leave me. I looked at Magnus guiltily, so exhausted and distraught I was on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault!"

Magnus frowned and pulled me in to his chest, one arm around my shoulder. "Hey, calm down, it's all right. It's no more your fault than it is his for climbing down to begin with."

"But he never would have climbed down if I hadn't lost the map! It's my fault! And then, I knew he should have just stayed where I pulled him out, he would have been okay, but I let him get up and walk! I should have said no, I should have made him stay," I could feel my shaky hold on myself crumble now that we'd been saved.

"He would have gotten up and walked anyway after you'd left him if he was so inclined. You did all that you could do, Lancer. You did the right thing, okay?" Magnus looked back at the Jeep, seeing that Leaf was now ready to go. "Come on, we need to get moving." He stood up, reaching down to grab me by the arm and pull me up. "Come on Lancer, I mean it. You did a good job, you made the right decisions."

I heard Magnus but didn't believe him. How could anything I had done have been right? Ace was unconscious again, after being coherent just an hour ago. I'd totally screwed up! I followed Magnus back to the Jeep, sitting in the passenger seat next to him while Leaf sat in the back, holding an unconscious Ace on his lap.

I felt guilty all over again. I'd seen them joking around camp enough to know that Leaf favoured Ace out of all the boys in the camp. Every time he demonstrated anything in any of his classes, he would always use Ace as his demonstrator, and they would always joke around and Leaf would wrestle him to the ground and ruffle his hair like an older brother every time he saw him. And now he was sitting just behind me, holding an unresponsive and probably near-death Ace in his arms.

And it was all my fault. Every last bit of it.


	10. Chapter 10

An hour had passed since we'd been found and I was currently sitting on a bed in the medical cabin, a mug of hot chocolate in my hands. I was still shivering, though whether it was from still being cold or just my nerves manifesting themselves in the shakes, I wasn't sure.

The only thing I did know was that as soon as we'd gotten back there had been an ambulance waiting to take Ace to the hospital. Magnus had wanted me to go at first, but I'd insisted that I was okay enough, that all I needed was something to warm me up. But the moment I saw the ambulance pull away I felt like I'd made the wrong choice. Not because I felt bad enough to see a doctor, but because I wanted to be there to know how Ace was doing.

I was worried, and so very scared. I'd heard them mention hypothermia and that made sense right away, despite it being the middle of the summer. I'd told them that before I left him this morning, Ace had been shivering violently. Now he was unconscious and unmoving, which was a bad sign. Even though I knew that leaving had been the right decision (otherwise I never would have heard the Jeep, nor would I have made the arrow) I still felt like it had been a mistake because if I'd been there, I would have seen him getting worse and I could have done something.

So now his life rested with some backwoods doctor who didn't know anything about him and I had no idea what was going on. All I could do was sit on the bed and wait, feeling horrible. Eventually the nurse came in to see me, taking my temperature and telling me to finish my hot chocolate and then try to get some rest. I told her I couldn't rest until I knew if Ace would be okay. She just smiled at me and patted my knee, telling me that she was sure he would be fine, that the doctor would fix him up.

It made me angry. I wasn't some stupid little kid, who thought that adults could make everything okay. I knew how bad off Ace was, and I knew that he would be lucky to be okay. And I was still fixated on the fact that it was my fault. This whole thing was my fault. I don't care what anyone else said.

My fault.

* * *

Magnus came by to see me a little later, after making a report with the camp supervisor. He knocked on the door and came into the room, sitting down on the bed next to me. I was unsure of what to say to him. Now that we were back and Ace was at a hospital, I was sure he'd give me the lecture he'd probably wanted to give me back by the river.

"How are you feeling?"

I looked at him briefly before averting my gaze to the floor, where it belonged. "I'm sorry, I know I screwed up." I wanted to get through this without crying, but I think I was still too exhausted for that. I hoped he wouldn't think less of me for it.

"Lancer, stop apologizing. I already told you, you did everything you could do. Sometimes, shit just happens. It's how we react that determines our value."

I felt like laughing. "I thought you were trying to make me feel better," I managed to say, before finding a lump in my throat again.

Magnus sighed and laid a hand on my shoulder. "I am. You reacted well, even though you don't think you did."

"How can you say that?" I asked him, though I wasn't sure why. I just wanted him to either lecture me or go away. I didn't want his pity. I didn't deserve it.

"Tell me what happened, from the moment you saw him fall. Exactly what happened."

I took a deep breath, not wanting to relive everything, but knowing that he probably wouldn't leave me alone until I did. "Well, I saw him floating down the river, so I knew that I had to go in after him, even though the cliffs were too high on both sides for me to get him out. So instead I just let the current take us downstream until I found somewhere that it levelled out."

"You know, not everyone would have gone in after him," Magnus started, but I shook my head. That was a lie. Anyone would have done what I did.

"So then when I found the bank, I pulled him out of the water. I checked him to make sure he was breathing, and he was, because he hadn't swallowed any water. I checked to make sure he hadn't broken anything, but he seemed okay. I had to wait a while for him to wake up, though. When he finally did I knew something was wrong with him. He woke up a few times, but he couldn't ever remember what had happened. I left him alone after he seemed well enough to remember what was going on, and went back to get his pack, since I'd lost everything in mine. I wanted to get his flare. But a stupid raccoon took off with it," I said, torn between laughing about the absurdity of that and crying about how horrible I felt.

Magnus laughed. "A raccoon took the flare?"

I nodded, and felt a little bit better. "Yeah. I don't know why he didn't take the food instead." I calmed down a bit more and explained everything else to him, and he listened quietly.

"I know you think you were wrong, every time you let him get up and keep walking, but it's like I told you back at the river. If you had just left him, he very well may have gotten up and started walking on his own. Sometimes in these situations, people get overtaken by delirium, and do things they otherwise might not do. You recognized that if you'd left him earlier, he probably would have gotten up and walked away on his own. You did the right thing, Lancer. Just because walking made him worse, it doesn't mean that you're at fault. You stayed with him because you knew that leaving him would only result in more trouble."

I kind of started to believe him in that maybe it wasn't all my fault, and that maybe I had made some proper choices. But the fact still remained that it was my fault that he'd fallen, and that he was near death at a hospital.

"I also forgot to mention before, but you're really good with your knots," Magnus said, squeezing my shoulder.

I smiled at the compliment. "Thanks, my dad sails a lot, so I know all about knots."

Magnus smiled back. "I'm grateful for that. All right, I'm beat and I need some rest, but I just wanted to stop by to make sure you weren't beating yourself up over this. You might have lost the map, Lancer, but you also saved his life. Don't forget that."

I was back to feeling like I was about to cry again, though this time I don't think it was because I felt worthless.

"And another thing," he told me, "I think it's about time you started trusting yourself more. You know a lot more than you give yourself credit for." He moved his hand from my shoulder to my head, ruffling my hair the way I always saw Leaf do to Ace.

"Magnus?" I looked up at him then, taking a deep breath to calm myself. "When are we going to hear about him?" Magnus shrugged.

"I made Leaf promise to call me when he heard anything, so whenever the doctor's done with him, I guess. I'll make sure you know, okay?"

I nodded, and then Magnus left me alone again. I did feel a little better. I was still worried but Magnus' comments were ringing in my head. He was right. I did need to trust myself more, because usually? Usually I ended up doing the right thing.

* * *

I'd somehow managed to fall asleep after Magnus left, and I didn't wake up until a few hours later when someone pounded on my door. I sat up quickly, groggily looking around until the door opened and Teddy ran in.

"Lancer!" He yelled, tackling me back onto the bed. I was torn between telling him to leave and let me go back to sleep and feeling happy that he was back. But then I remembered everything Ace had told me, and I felt bad.

"Magnus told me you guys were missing last night, and I got worried when no one found you guys! I totally wanted to go looking for you myself, but no one would let me. Can you believe that?" Teddy gave one of his fake laughs, and I couldn't help but smile. He'd totally been way more afraid than he was letting on.

"Yeah well, they found us," I tried to joke, but every time I looked at Teddy I thought about how he would have reacted if our positions had been reversed and it was Ace here instead of me. Would Teddy have tackled him onto the bed, or would he have casually strolled up to him, slapping him on the arm and telling him he'd never been worried? Would he have gotten Teddy's true reaction like I did, or his tough guy act?

"So, where's Ace? Is he okay?"

I wasn't sure what Teddy knew at that point. I had a bit of a guilty look on my face as I looked at him, wondering what I should tell him. "They had to take him to a hospital, Teddy."

Teddy's face fell. He obviously didn't know anything. "Is he okay?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. He fell off the side of the cliff over the river and hit his head on a tree. He was in pretty bad shape." I didn't bother mentioning the whole hypothermia thing, because Teddy wasn't the type to listen to long explanations.

"Oh," he said, clearly at a loss for words. "But he's going to be okay, right? I mean, he's got a doctor looking at him, right? He'll get better?"

I frowned, looking at Teddy and for once seeing just how different we were. I knew that sometimes doctors couldn't do anything for you, while Teddy had a more childish belief that doctors could fix anything. Teddy had a childish sense of optimism about him, while I was old enough to know that sometimes things just never get better. I didn't know what to tell him.

"I mean, maybe he'll have to stay at the hospital overnight or something, right? He'll be back here in no time, and then the three of us can hang out again, and you guys won't be mad at each other any more, right? Because you helped him?"

Teddy was killing me right now. How could I tell him what I needed to tell him? He wasn't mature enough to handle it, I don't think. Maybe I could ask Magnus to talk to him? Maybe if I just agreed with him for now, and pretended everything would be okay, it would be easier. Just for a little while.

Just then I heard footsteps in the hall, and in walked Magnus. "Oh good, you're back," he said, his eyes on Teddy. "I just heard from Leaf," he said, looking back at me.

I sat up straighter, anxious to hear the news, even though I was scared it would be bad. I nodded, ready to hear it.

Magnus came over to us, sitting down on the bed next to me. "He's still out, so they did an MRI on him, to make sure there's no brain damage. Came out clear, so that's good. Doctor said he'll still need a good deal of time to recover, though, so once he's cleared to leave the hospital he'll be going home."

"What do you mean?" Teddy asked, confused. "Why isn't he coming back? Camp is only half over!"

Magnus looked from me to Teddy, and he knew that I understood. "Teddy, Ace was in really rough shape when we found him. Concussions are a serious thing, and it takes time to get over them."

"Well, he can have time here!" Teddy protested.

Magnus shook his head. "No, he needs quiet, Teddy. He won't get that here, he needs to go home so his parents can look after him."

"But his parents don't care about him!" Teddy yelled, which shocked me. What was he talking about? Ace's parents spoiled him! "They only sent him here to get him out of their way for the summer! They won't want him back yet!"

Magnus sighed and shrugged. "Well, he can't stay here, so they don't really have a choice. Besides, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

Teddy just shook his head. "It is! They're in the middle of getting a divorce, he told me himself! That's why they wanted him to go away all summer!"

My mind was reeling from the shock. Ace's parents were a bit like my parents in that they worked a lot, but I thought they were happy. Ace never acted like there was anything wrong. But then suddenly his comments last night came back to me, about how he treated Melody, and how he'd only started doing it recently. Of course, it made sense. His parents were fighting, and now he didn't trust her, because he saw the most important relationship in his life falling apart in front of him. It all made sense.

"Teddy, calm down. Whatever his parents are going through, they need to be there for him right now, and I'm sure they will be. Sometimes parents might hate each other, but they tend to come together when their kids are hurt. He'll be fine; you'll see him in a month when you go home."

Teddy shook his head, muttering to himself that Magnus was wrong. I was still shocked over the news. I wondered if Melody knew. Maybe that's why she was always forgiving him?

"Listen guys, what's done is done. We've all had a rough weekend, so let's go back to the cabin and clean up before grabbing something to eat, okay?" Magnus stood up and walked to the door, looking back at us.

I suddenly spoke up. "Can we meet you there in a few minutes?" I asked, staring hard at Magnus to make him understand that I wanted to talk to Teddy alone. He seemed to get it, because he nodded and closed the door behind him. Now it was just the two of us.

"I didn't know his parents were getting a divorce," I said, still shocked about it.

Teddy walked over to stand by the window, not looking at me. "He doesn't really have it all that easy, you know."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious about his comment.

"His parents, they were never really that cool. I don't think they ever really cared about him, or at least he doesn't think they did. You know what the worst part is, Lance?" I waited for him to go on, wondering what Ace had told him. In fact I was surprised that Ace had told Teddy about his parents. But then I realized that maybe Ace had confided in Teddy in order to try and make him see that he didn't need to be afraid of him, that Ace had his own problems and that he should trust him more. It was kind of sad.

"He said that the real reason why they wanted to send him away is so they could argue over who would have to take him, because neither of them want him. He overheard them talking about it the night before he left. Could you imagine hearing that?" He was silent again, still staring out the window. "I mean, I don't always get along with my mom, and my step dad can be a jerk sometimes, but they still tell me that they love me. I don't think his parents ever tell him that."

I couldn't think of anything to say. What were you supposed to say after hearing that? Here I'd been all along, wondering why someone I used to be friends with had suddenly changed, and it had never occurred to me to ask him why he had changed. Not that Ace ever been the friendliest person to begin with, but I should have realized something was up this past year. It was too drastic of a change.

And now he was worried that Teddy, who was probably the only person he felt comfortable confiding anything to, didn't trust him enough to really be friends with him. It made me feel so horrible I felt like throwing up.

Having parents like that explained everything about Ace. Everything.

"Lance?" Suddenly Teddy had turned around to look at me, and I was surprised at how much older he seemed. "I know he's a jerk to you sometimes, but I don't think he really means it."

And then I was on my feet, walking over to him. "I know, Teddy, we talked, out in the woods. He, well he told me that he didn't really mean to be so mean to me. But I didn't know about his parents."

Teddy suddenly looked guilty, turning to stare out the window again. "Yeah well, he made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone. But still, I thought that maybe you should know." Teddy fidgeted, looking highly uncomfortable. "Just don't tell him I told you."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "I promise I won't. Maybe he'll tell me himself when we get back after the summer."

"Yeah I mean, you did save his life, right?" Teddy turned to face me, a little smile on his face. "That's pretty cool."

I smiled back and nodded again. "Yeah, I guess I did."

We left the medical cabin then, heading back to our place. I didn't know if I'd be able to see Ace again before he left to go home, but that was okay. I had a feeling that after the summer was over, he'd probably be looking for friends instead of pushing them away, and I knew that I wanted to be there to help him.

Teddy wouldn't have to choose between the two of us, because all three of us would be best friends again. I was determined to make it happen.


End file.
